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swarmina

Bulbs/grass seed ? - help please

swarmina
15 years ago

Two things I didn't get to do...

Bought a bunch of tulip/daffodil/windflower bulbs from daughter's school. Due to a jumble of life events I haven't planted them yet. Is there any way to get them planted this late? It hasn't been so cold that the ground is frozen. If I gently acclimatized them to the colder temps, could I plant them successfully? If not, what should I do - save, plant in spring? How to store?

Same with grass seed, which I am sure is too late to do anything with. Mostly, can I save it until spring? When should I try to plant it?

Thanks for all you brilliant people on here! I would be lost w/o you!

Sheila

Comments (3)

  • jqpublic
    15 years ago

    You could get away with planting the bulbs I think. Our ground never really freezes around here. Get them in and water once...and you should be good. There is no need to get them acclimated to the cold since they are dormant. Add good organic matter to the bottom of the hole as well.

    As for the grass...it is too late. It is usually best to sow Fescue in the fall b/c the roots have time to really develop before the strong summer heat does its damage. That way if the grass browns in the summer it will come back the next year. If you plant it in the spring you may lose more coverage. Then again I am not sure how long the seed will last so it may be good to use it in the spring than have it go to waste waiting until next fall.

  • nckvilledudes
    15 years ago

    I have planted daffodils as late as the day after Christmas with no issues after buying them on sale after Christmas. There is still plenty of time to get them in the ground and get blooms this spring.

    As for grass, I agree with jqpublic that fall is the best time to plant, but have heard from others that if you put the seed out now, it will germinate in the spring when the weather is sufficiently warm and get a jump start for spring. Another option would be to sow some white clover now and allow it to germinate in the spring. I have overseeded my yard with clover several times now and it tends to hold up much better than fescue for me in the heat of the summer than grass does. Better for the bees as well!

  • trianglejohn
    15 years ago

    Tulips are pretty picky about chilling hours - but not always. We could have a chilly winter and early spring which will give them enough cold to form flowers. There are millions of different types of tulips and they all have different requirements. If the bulb doesn't get the right amount of hours below freezing (or some magic number) they don't make flowers. If you have stored them outside on the porch or in the garage without heat they should be ready to go. Keeping bulbs inside a warm house is what screws things up. They need cold temperatures to sleep through the winter. Daffodils and Wind Flowers don't seem to require that much cold to bloom. I would plant everything now and hope for the best. I usually soak my wind flower bulbs overnight to plump them up before I sow them. They tend to send up stubby leaves in the middle of winter and sit still waiting for spring. The longer they have those leaves the bigger their flower show when things warm up.

    I know nothing about lawn grass but I would sow it now also.

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