Topic: Worried about bulbs

[patches]

I'm just wondering if anyone has some input about bulbs.    Mine have been sitting in water or soil that soaked for several weeks now and we just got lots more rain today.    The ground around here is saturated and now the the water doesn't even run off anymore.    Now, I'm worried that the bulbs may rot.  Although I think my daffodils and crocus may be okay since they're already growing and blooming, so they are probably sucking up some of the water to make them grow. 

[Tina]

I just don't know, Patti. It is not a problem that is one I've had to deal with here. I know from reading that they can rot if left in standing water. I just don't know a fix for the conditions you have going right now. Digging them up isn't a great option at this time of year. That might just polish them off. I'm thinking you need to wait and see. Is there way way to cover them and send any further dousings somewhere else?

[patches]

Digging them up isn't a great option at this time of year. 

Well, like you said, that's not a great idea now, but I couldn't do it even if I wanted to since I have no idea where all of them are located.     Geesh, I have my both my Oriential and Asiatic lillies scattered throughout all my beds.    Of course, this also means I couldn't cover them either even if I knew how to do it.   

[Tina]

Me, I was thinking along the lines of a big tarp Covering the whole bed(s) while it was raining. I've done something similar for my more tender shrubs when the thermometer was going to dip.

[Patty S]

Patti, I was concerned about my Peruvian Daffodil bulbs last fall, cuz they're not supposed to be real wet in the wintertime... & all it does here all winter is rain, rain, rain!   When things started getting soupy around here, I propped some old boards up on buckets/rocks, next to the house, & tacked pieces of plastic (hefty bags, plastic sheeting, plastic table cloths... whatever I could find) from board to board, the length of the bed.  That diverted the majority of the water into the yard, so it wouldnt pool into the beds. (It doesn't hafta be much of an angle, cuz water runs downhill, regardless.)   It musta worked, cuz they're starting to peek through now. (Peruvian Daffs don't bloom until later in the summer... they're not part of the Narcissus family, but rather more like Lilies.)

[patches]

Patty, there's no way I could begin to cover all my beds  and it would mean covering the plants that are coming up.  My Bleeding Hearts and some of my other plants are at a pretty decent size already, but still very tender, and I'm afraid doing something like that would do more harm than good.    Right now, it has stopped raining and there is no rain predicted for the next several days, so I think the best and only thing for me to do is pray! 

[Tina]

Yes, pray and wait. If more rain is coming sometime in the future. It will not harm any plants to cover them for a day or two as long as the covering isn't weighing down on them. So a pup tent type of affair would work. If you have taller shrubs around, they will hold up your covering. But if you are rain free for a while that is even better. Good luck, Patti.

[patches]

I finally got to spend some quality time out in the yard today.    I checked on the one bed I had tented last week, because they're predicting heavy rains tonight and tomorrow, so I thought I would fix another bed.  Unfortunately, the tenting didn't make a bit of difference,  it's still as wet and soaked as some of the other ones because these beds are low and all the rain runs down into them.    It seems I don't need to keep the rain from falling on the beds, I need to find some way to keep the water from running into these beds.   

[duh]

The new place I'm getting is on a slope so I'm facing the same problem.  What I intend to do to stop water from comming in my front door and ruining the bed infront of the house is to build a berm in front of it at a slant that will send the run off around the side of the house and the rest of the way down the hill. 

On the berm I'll plant a good errosion control ground cover and some topiary plants for 4 season interest.  And then some low growing flowers that won't obstruct the view from the bay windows. 

I also plan on taking the hexigon stepping stones out of the "sidewalk" and putting in a slate and cement walk that again is raised a couple of inches from "ground level".  My only other plan is to plant the bulbs in that bed alittle shallower than normal and them mound the dirt on top of them. 

Maybe a nice sandy soil added to your soaked beds might help.  With an extra helping of compost to help the bulbs break ground and still bloom this year.  That would "dry out" the area, make the soil "well draining" and give the bulbs a boost when they start growing.  It's just a thought.

[patches]

build a berm in front of it 

Actually, Duh, this is the first time I've every had a problem with these beds and had all my flowers and bulbs underwater.     The beds are in the low parts of the yard, but I've got them built up like mini berms which has always worked for me.    Every fall and spring I will work some compost into the beds to keep the mound higher than the area around them and help replace whatever soil has washed away.   

Unfortunately, March 2008 set a new record for total rainfall in the St. Louis area for last month, with 8.39" of rain, which broke the old record of 8.25" in 1897.      Well, that was over a 100 years ago, so who would have figured something like this would happen.     Geesh, there were some areas around here that received over a foot of rain in less than 24 hours. 

[duh]

sometimes when I hear about the flooding in the midwest I think of the period when that area was an inland sea and wonder if that time isn't comming again. 

I hope all of your bulbs survive.

[patches]

Well, I was out there this morning and now I'm kinda worried about some of the flowers too,    since a lot of plants need a drying out period between watering.      

[duh]

I'll cross my fingers and my toes for you.  My eyes too maybe.

And what is crazy is that in a few months we'll be praying for rain. 

[patches]

I know, Duh, it seems like that happens every year!   

[duh]

To bad there is no way to save the water from now when it is so abundant and use it later when we'll need it.

[patches]

Well, I've got my rain barrels,     but that hardly covers anything when gets hot and dry. 

[duh]

I was watching a program about green landscaping and they had a system where the water went from the gutters to a large buried plastic tank in the back yard.  It must have held a zillion gallons it was huge. 

When I saw the program I wondered why they didn't just dig a cystern and then use plaster aparis to waterproof it rather than buying what I'm sure is a very expensive tank.  But I guess that's the difference between city and country...or possibly the soils.

Well I hope that all the flowers and bulbs survive.     

[patches]

Actually, Duh, I'm not even going to worry about it anymore.    I can't change it, can't do anything about it, so whatever happens, happens!  My neighbor just left a message on my cell phone and said that our street is flooded.    She said her yard actually looks like a lake and it's never been this bad before!  I asked about my yard, but she can't see it.    

[Hillhound]

Quote:
"No I asked about my yard, but she can't see it."

For all the water covering it?
 
 Sorry Patches, that aint what you want to hear!
 

It's not the water you need to worry about when roads start flooding, it's all the rubbish, oil residues and other crap that get washed into the garden, they can do far more damage than the water.

Hope your stuff survives OK.

You're right though, there's nothing you can do to change it anyway and the Lord will always look after his own so I'm sure you'll be OK!