It’s mid-October in the SF Bay Area & after 2 highly unusual early season storms that dumped enough rain to cause flooding in the area, I’m about ready to get out and start planting both flower bulbs and bulbs that go in the vegetable garden.
Flower Bulbs in My Garden
Flowers that will go in are Iris, Grape Hyacinth (Muscari armeniacum), Freesia, Amaryllis (also known as the Naked Lady), and Calla Lilies (white, yellow, & red). An additional flower that some will plant with the bulbs is the Tecolote Ranunculus, which is actually a tuber. I find this odd because tubers will rot if they are in the ground during a wet winter like we have in California. Dahlias like potatoes and ranunculus are tubers and you don’t want them in the ground during the rainy season, particularly if you are like me and bought over $100 of Dahlia tubers last year. (FYI, the photo of the flowers in this post are Tecolote Ranunculus).
Edible Bulbs in My Garden
On the edible side of things this year I am planting Chesnok Red garlic, which is a hardneck garlic from the Republic of Georgia. I also decided to go with another hardneck variety called Georgia Fire (also known as Cichisdzhvari), which is also from the Republic of Georgia and it stores for longer than the Chesnok Red.
The other interesting thing about Georgia Fire is that it is a porcelain garlic, which are known for high levels of “Allicin” that apparently has positive health benefits for lowering cholesterol, boosting the immune system, decrease blood pressure, etc.
Last year I planted Siskiyou Purple softneck garlic, but even though they are supposed to store for longer than hardneck garlic, there were several bulbs that didn’t do well in storage compared to the hardneck, so they are out for this year’s planting. Furthermore, the hardneck garlics are prized by chefs around the world for hot spicy flavor, whereas the softnecks have a more tame flavor. Last year’s posts on the garlic harvest can be found here (garlic part 1, garlic part 2)
Storage times
- Chesnok Red – 5 months
- Georgia Fire (Cichisdzhvari)- 6-7 months
- Purple Siskiyou – up to 10 months
Also on the edible side of bulbs that are being planted are red shallots, Flat of Italy (flat red onions), and Gold Princess (flat yellow onions). My luck with shallots has been spotty, most likely because I’ve done them via seeds rather than planting an actual bulb.
I am going to try both seeds and starter bulbs this year and have ordered French Red Shallots from Peaceful Valley Farm & Garden Supply in Grass Valley, CA (which is also where I bought my soil blockers — I’ll write about that later).
As for the onions, my track record is spotty there as well, but in my defense, the problem of cats digging up seedings was a serious problem last growing season and one that will be adequately addressed this time around with chicken wire. We did manage to get a couple of wonderful shallots and red onions, but not in the quantity we should have.
Fertilizing for Bulbs
To get your bulbs to grow (for edibles and flowers) and to ensure they bloom (for flowers), you need to fertilize. I am going to make my own fertilizer mix and will be avoiding bone meal because it is so processed these days that the consensus of university agricultural programs is that most of the nutrients have been “boiled off.”
Before I fertilize I’ll test the soil and try to best determine what areas need more and which need less. I’ll also base part of that decision on what I intend to plant in one area or another since there are plants that are light feeders, medium feeders, and heavy feeders.
One basic fertilizer recipe I have found on Mother Earth News in an article written by Steve Solomon is listed below:
Organic Fertilizer Recipe
Mix uniformly, in parts by volume:
4 parts seed meal
1/4 part ordinary agricultural lime, best finely ground
1/4 part gypsum (or double the agricultural lime)
1/2 part dolomitic lime
Plus, for best results:
1 part bone meal, rock phosphate or high-phosphate guano
1/2 to 1 part kelp meal (or 1 part basalt dust)
***I did find another homemade fertilizer recipe in the book “How to Grow More Vegetables” that basically lists different amounts of alfalfa meal (N), phosphate rock or soft phosphate (P), wood ash, and crushed granite (K). This is more of a complex recipe because you may also have to add in soil modifiers to bring in minerals such as calcium, sulfur, and trace minerals.
Grape Hyacinth (Muscari armeniacum)
