Kitchen Garden Forum

Hi all

I have just been digging loads of earth away from our front garden wall to take the pressure of a MASSIVE crack we have in it so have not been able to use it as a border for years. However, in the process, I have dug uploads of bulbs of different sizes all a mystery though possibly some might be snowdrops.

Is it best to let them dry of then replant and see if they come up next year assuming they have a root system or should I just bung them in a pot now and see what happens?

I have a feeling there are going to be a lot more as I dig out the soil!

Many thanks

Debs

Were there no leaves or flowers in the Spring?

No none that we could see the border has been dormant for years.

Dry them off after trying to sort out what they are put them into a labelled paper bag store them and when you feel it is right plant out.
I had the same problem when moved to my present home made guesses at whatwere tulips,daffs,snowdrops etc.Some surprises when they appeared after replanting.

Overall, snowdrop, crocus, daffodil and tulip bulbs are quite different to look at (crocus are corms rather than bulbs anyway), but by now most should be dormant, other than perhaps tulips. I would sort them out into groups of similar looking ones, dry them off, keep them in paper bags and then replant them in groups in September, rather than scattering them. If you are concerned about their height, the smaller bulbs are likely to belong to shorter plants, so plant those in front.

Sensible advice from Monika.
You night be able to identify the bulbs by Googling something like "what do bare snowdrop bulbs look like?"

My own instinct would be to separate them by size but keep them exposed for as short a time as possible in case exposure to light and air causes them to dry out and deteriorate, especially in this warmer dryer season.

If your soil digging out is going to be a longer term job, could you cover them all with barely damp compost in a big pot and store in a cool place and then tip them all out when ready to replant as Monika suggests, with bigger bulbs further back in the border. Best perhaps to plant the different size bulbs in their own individual small clumps. Snowdrops and crocus especially should start to naturalise and clumps expand after a couple of years if conditions are right for them again.

If they,ve been too deeply covered for a long time, ie years, they may have become blind and not reflower, but relocating in the right
conditions at right soil depth may eventually encourage them back to flowering condition again.

I'm afraid I can't get my head round finding bulbs that haven't been producing green tops for years and them being likely to be much good.

Thanks for the advice everyone. @Geoff it could be that it was so weed-ridden we could not tell what was there so I think I shall hope and wait and see According to the other half it was initially choked with weeds but he is partially sighted so who knows. It will be fun finding out.

Well at least if you get a display of bulbs next spring you won't have had to pay for them. That's one of the pleasures of gardening. There is usually always something unexpected to look forward to.

I suspect that if the growing area was choked with weeds there may have been too much competition depriving the bulbs of nutrients, to allow them to reach flowering stage, or they were simply just strangled too much by weeds to be noticed. Against this argument snowdrops and crocus do grow wild in grassed areas every spring so perhaps thiskind of competition isn't an issue

Mind you, bulbs can always be a little unreliable. A year ago somebody gave me 100 Russian Snowdrop bulbs. I think this spring three of them actually made an appearance. Heaven only knows what happened to the rest. Maybe they'd been stored dry out of soil for too long and have either give up the ghost or are spending time under the soil slowly replenishing themselves in the hope of better performance next year.