The Aftercare of Bulbs
If you select good-sized bulbs of first-class quality during the autumn you can almost guarantee a good show the following spring. After that it is up to you to maintain this quality in the planted bulbs in order to secure succeeding displays of flowers. For top quality blossoms it is essential to have the bulbs growing in soil that is in good heart. Those that are going to be of long standing must also be fed regularly, either with a generous spring application of bone-meal or a liquid feed after flowering while the leaves are still healthy and green. Liquid feed needs careful application in order to prevent rapid foliage development and the production of soft bulbs which will succumb to moulds and rots during the winter.
Providing that competition from weeds and other neighbouring plants is kept to a minimum, the production of good sized healthy bulbs is almost assured. That is providing that you maintain the foliage for as long after flowering as possible. The function of bulb foliage at this time is to develop the bulb for the next season and ensure the initiation of lower buds. By the time that the leaves have died down next spring’s flowers should be latent within the bulbs. No amount of feeding or replanting at this time will have any effect. Unsightly bulb foliage is usually a constant source of irritation after all the flowers have faded as it begins to look jaded and unhealthy. However it is vital that it remains for at least six weeks after flowering, preferably until it disappears of its own accord, in order to build up the food reserves in each bulb.
Some gardeners lift, divide and store their bulbs, replanting in the autumn. This is unnecessary unless you want to fill the gaps that they leave with summer bedding or hardy annuals. In that case the bulbs will still be in leaf, so lift carefully and line them out in another part of the garden until all the foliage has died back naturally. Then is the time to lift, dry and sort them prior to storing in a cool dry place. Apart from tulips, I would seldom contemplate the disturbance of healthy bulbs unless it was clear that they had been in position for many years and were in desperate need of dividing and replanting.
The potential bare patches created by bulbs which are dying back can be filled with some of the hardy annuals if the seed is scattered amongst the receding foliage. Cornflower, night scented stock, Virginian stock, clarkia and godetia all hide the foliage well and their growth is not impeded by its presence. Remember that these annuals will take nourishment from the soil in which the bulbs are growing and so take appropriate measures with bonemeal or hoof and horn during the early spring.
