Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
Bulbs => Bulbs General => Topic started by: Paul Cumbleton on August 12, 2018, 05:20:09 PM
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Since we moved to Somerset 3 years ago, Colin has been wanting to build a raised bed in which he wants particularly to experiment with growing a range of Fritillaria outside (his collection at present being totally in pots in a glasshouse). We will also plant a range of other bulbs, including experimenting with some of my South African bulbs to see if any prove growable outside in this climate. Easier, common bulbs will also be included to ensure we have at least something beautiful to enjoy if all the experimental ones fail!
This past few weeks at last saw this project started. We had some stone left over from the building of the crevice garden so it made sense to use this, to both save money and to make things match. First picture below shows the area (previously grass) with a small trench dug to delineate the bed. Picture 2 shows part way through building the low wall and picture 3 once the wall was complete. You will see that at the rear we have used concrete blocks - being at the back they will not be seen and they are capped with stone to match the rest of the wall. Once filled with growing medium they will not be at all visible.
Paul
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Looks beautiful, Paul — I bet you’ll both have fun with that! I’m assuming you’re thinking about wet summer South African bulbs?
Seattle is 8b as well, though obviously much drier in summer, and many of the eucomis and hesperantha grow reliably in the ground here (with a little mulch for some of the eucomis, and a lot of watering in summer.) I’ve been meaning to find out what grows with them in the wild, so will follow your experiments with interest!
Kelly
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I’m assuming you’re thinking about wet summer South African bulbs?
Hi Kelly,
Actually no, I'm going to try some of the winter-rainfall bulbs. While the hardiness or otherwise of the summer-rainfall plants from South Africa is fairly well known over here, the winter-growing ones are largely un-tested. Even if some prove hardy, summer moisture could be a problem. But we don't know if we don't try, so it will be fun to find out.
More to follow on this project soon.
Paul
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Looks fantastic - I would kill for stone that square to build with..........
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A fantastic job... Paul.
Must be exhausting...at the current temperatures.
Thomas
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Hi Paul and Colin,
That's a raised bed on a grand scale - I'm sure you'll have enough plants to fill it too!
I found last year that some South African bulbs which had survived in pots in previous winters were badly affected (some were killed outright) by the drop to -7 oC in July when we were away and unable to protect them. Hopefully in the ground yours will tolerate lower temperatures,
cheers
fermi
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Paul described the initial construction of our new raised bulb bed. Having built it, one thing I did want to do was to dig over the ground to break it up (picture 1). I thought it would be a relatively quick job, but it ended up being a more serious job! You can see why by viewing what came out from one end of the bed (picture 2). I think the previous owners had been putting waste mortar/cement from building work here. There was only about 5cm of soil above this so it would have done a good job at hindering drainage. Having removed this, a layer of sharp sand approximately 6cm deep was spread over the bed and then dug in. The idea behind this was to try and limit any barrier effect between the bulb bed mix and ground soil.
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Crikey! A classic case of previous owners "sweeping" their junk "under the carpet" ! :'(
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Next job was to fill the bed with a growing medium. Well deciding what to use did cause us quite a headache. Simply put, any mix has good points and bad points. Plus this is our first bulb bed. Of cause Paul does have the experience of the sand beds plus the crevice garden at Wisley and our own crevice garden here. My basic Fritillaria mix would have just been too expensive and I do not think it would have worked in a bed. To cut a long protracted story short, we ended up using what is sometimes called ‘dirty sand’. Our mix was made up of 20% loam (picture 1), 40% horticultural sand (picture 2) and 40% gravel (2-6mm) (picture 3).
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Orders were placed and 6 bulk bags turned up. We ordered a spare bag of gravel. So then came the mixing and all I can say is cement mixers are a life-saver (picture 1) and ours does get used a lot! One thing we forgot to take into account was when you put 60 litres by volume in, you do not get 60 litres of mix out. How? Simple when you think about it - the 40% of gravel creates a lot of air spaces that sand and loam can fall into. So I ran out of loam first. The horticultural sand bags were about 20% bigger than the loam and gravel bags. So after running out of loam I finished off the sand doing a mix of 60% sand to 40% grit mix. This used up most of the spare bag of gravel! I also put a layer of my waste Fritillaria mix after repotting about 13-15 cm from the top (picture 2). The reason for doing this is 50% of that mix is moler clay cat litter, so should hold onto nutrients for the bulbs. The 20% loam was meant to do this but it had a high sand content, so its nutrient holding ability probably will not be that good. Just two more pictures, (picture 3) is me levelling out the mix as I went along and (picture 4) the filled bed with Paul in the background. Now there remains only the top dressing to apply and bulbs to be planted.
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Great work Colin and Paul 8)
Will you allow for settling, or plan to protect from winter rain?
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Smashing job.
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Paul:
Looks like one guys doing all the work.
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That looks quite exciting to me. Lacking a greenhouse I have to plant all bulbs out, but mainly in protected frames. I am curious about the results.
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Hi Ashley,
As to settling, when I was filling it Paul was going round with a shovel pushing the shovel blade in and out of the mix to help settle it a bit. But settling was another issue that we had long discussions about because we did not want to compact the mix and cause drainage problems. Winter wet combined with any freezing we get will probably be what kills some of the bulbs put in. So we are expecting to have to add more in the future and deal with any arising issues.
The idea of the bed is to see what we can get to grow outside and unprotected here, so we don’t plan to cover it for winter.
Colin
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Thanks David we just have to hope the bulbs like it.
Colin
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Hi Arnold,
The simple answer is Paul’s back is not up to doing any heavy lifting. So if we want it done I have to do it.
Colin
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Hi Stefan,
Yes it is exciting because we have no idea what will actually grow and survive. Yes there will be some things that we expect to do well, but there will be a lot that we just do not know. Paul is keeping a list which I think he will put up at some time.
If I remember correctly - for a Fritillaria Group post or somewhere - you showed a picture one of your frames under snow? It looked to be low to the ground so I have a couple of questions please: what about drainage and are your bulbs in pots or in the open ground so to speak?
Colin
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Hi Colin,
what are you planning to do with all the space you'll be creating in the glass-houses?
cheers
fermi
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Looks superb. I'll be following the news of how the bulbs do with interest. A project for me in the future I think.
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Hi Fermi,
Well I have actually had to put another plunge up in my greenhouse to take last year’s seedlings. But next year when I will be releasing some more Frits into the bulb bed I may have some space and I am sure I can find something to fill it up!
Colin
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Hi Tony,
Thank you. We have put some things in which we think are unlikely to make it (mainly some of Pauls South African bulbs) but if you do not try you do not know.
Colin
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... I may have some space and I am sure I can find something to fill it up!
Colin
Paul may have some ideas too - going by the thread he has started about one of our Aussie plants ;D
cheers
fermi
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Hi Stefan,
Yes it is exciting because we have no idea what will actually grow and survive. Yes there will be some things that we expect to do well, but there will be a lot that we just do not know. Paul is keeping a list which I think he will put up at some time.
If I remember correctly - for a Fritillaria Group post or somewhere - you showed a picture one of your frames under snow? It looked to be low to the ground so I have a couple of questions please: what about drainage and are your bulbs in pots or in the open ground so to speak?
Colin
Hi Colin,
you remember right with my snow covered frames. My frames are all at ground level because of our low winter temperatures. They are all filled with sand and the pots are plunged in it. The frame with mainly Fritillaria is south faced and I have to shade it from april on. Otherwise it becomes sometimes too hot and the plants start their summer rest too early.
Completely out are Fritillaria acmopetala, amana, camschatcensis, drenowskyii, elwesii, graeca, gussichiae, kotschyana, michailowskyii, montana, mutabilis, pontica, thessala, ussuriensis and for sure some others that I have forgotten. Of course the big ones like Frit. imperialis, raddeana and persica are outside.
Stefan
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Hi Fermi,
Paul has two greenhouses to my one so I get first choice which he says is fair but he is very good at negotiating otherwise.
Colin
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Hi Stefan,
Thanks for the information especially the list of what you grow outside. It will be interesting to see if I can also grow all of these outside as well in our climate.
Like you I have to shade my greenhouse to keep things going and it does make a big difference to the plants. Paul’s South African house, which is next to mine, can easily be 5c warmer than mine when my shading is on and that is taking the temperature under the plunges out of the sun. After they have died down I also put polystyrene on top to help them (picture attached.)
Colin
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We decided to top up the bed a bit by using the remaining gravel with some sharp sand which we normally use for our plunges (mix 60% sand 40% grit as before). This took the level to pretty much where we wanted it but not quite and that took the total of bulk bags used to fill it (without the topdressing) to 7. The gravel for topdressing turned up the other day so I have put that on (picture 1). Yes we have already planted quite a bit; most of what has gone in so far are spare bulbs and are flowering size, though not all. We also have ordered some bulbs to go in which have yet to turn up. The last 3 pictures are of the bulb bed from different positions to show how it ties in with the rest of the garden.
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It looks gorgeous! I have similar temperatures here, though much drier in summer, so I’m very interested to see what does well.
Plus, I do love a good experiment. :)
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Thanks Kelly,
As for the experimental aspect, we have now planted a selection of my South African winter-growing bulbs in the bed. Selection was mainly a case of whatever was truly spare and which therefore do not matter if they don't make it. It has to be said, most of these were planted much more in hope than expectation! Even those that prove hardy in the winter may succumb to a moist summer when most of them will be expecting a totally dry dormancy. But it is fun to try and I'm sure a few will surprise us and flourish. So, here is a list of the South African's planted so far:
Bulbocodium komsbergensis, Cyanella orchidiformis, Daubenya stylosa, Daubenya zeyheri (Jacob’s Bay), Geissorhiza corrugate, Geissorhiza inflexa, Geissorhiza splendidissima, Gethyllis roggeveldensis x villosa, Gethyllis verticillata (Vanrhyns Pass), Gladiolus alatus, Gladiolus uysiae, Gladiolus watermeyeri, Ixia viridiflora var. minor, Lachenalia matthewsii, Lachenalia viridiflora, Lapeirousia oreogena, Massonia citrina (Rooihoogte Pass), Massonia hirsuta (Kirkwood), Massonia jasminiflora (Smithfield), Massonia longipes (George), Moraea polystacha
Oxalis flava 'Golden Cape', Oxalis versicolor, Polyxena corymbosa, Spiloxene canaliculata, Spiloxene capensis (Rawsonville), Spiloxene serrata (Saldanah), Strumaria karooica (Komsberg), Strumaria karooica (Meintjiesplaas).
One of these is already in flower - Strumaria karooica, pictured below. Ian Young also pictures this species in his latest bulb log: http://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2018Aug221534930320BULB_LOG_3418.pdf (http://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2018Aug221534930320BULB_LOG_3418.pdf)
Paul
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Did you plant out the bulbs freely or did you put them in baskets or pots? I'd fear that they mix, especially when the have very similar bulbs like Fritillaria.
Will you put other plants in this raised bed, that are flowering when the bulbs are dormant? They could reduce the summer moisture.
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Hi Stefan,
We planted the bulbs freely - we don't really mind if they mix over time. Yes, we will put other things in to flower when the bulbs are dormant to help reduce summer moisture. Any suggestions for suitable plants would be welcome.
Paul
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Paul, I find that Moraea aristata does quite well outside here in a 12cm high raised scree bed, survived -5c two years ago and still going strong. :) Moraea lurida is becoming a weed with seed germinating everywhere. :)
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Michael, that's useful information, thanks very much.
Paul
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Paul has listed the South African bulbs that have been planted. The Fritillaria that have gone in so far are:-
Fritillaria pallidiflora, Fritillaria persica, Fritillaria pontica, Fritillaria raddeana, Fritillaria walujewii, Fritillaria imperialis type ‘Early Passion’ all flowering size.
Fritillaria affinis dwarf form, Fritillaria davisii, Fritillaria davisii x graeca, Fritillaria eastwoodiae, Fritillaria pudica, Fritillaria recurva are small bulbs.
Not as many Fritillaria have gone in as I wanted but that is down to me repotting early. The up side of this is I will know more about the bed and mix for next year. We have also put a selection of other spare bulbs we had and most of these are flowering size.
Acis rosea, Chionodoxa forbesii, Chionodoxa luciliae album Chionodoxa luciliae (true sp.), Chionodoxa sardesis, Colchicum agrippinum, Corydalis solida subsp. solida 'Beth Evans', Crocus aff vernus very early, Galanthus peshmenii, Galanthus reginae-olgae, Iris ‘Eyecatcher’, Iris ‘ Mars landing’, Leucocoryne vittata, Narcissua asturiensis, Narcissua dubius, Scilla hughii, Tecophilaea cyanocrocus var. leichtlinii’, Tecophilaea cyanocrocus ‘Stormcloud Group’, Tecophilaea cyanocrocus var. violacea,
To add to Pauls’ comment about planting them ‘free’, we still have most in a pot as well.
All that remains to be planted for this year are the ordered bulbs that are yet to be delivered. Once they arrive and are planted we’ll list those here too.
Colin
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Is that gravel mulch over the Strumaria karooica a crushed limestone or a crystalline rock?
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Hi Rimmer,
The gravel topdressing is 10mm black basalt. We chose this because it matches the gravel pathways and also the colour of the nearby crevice garden. It is actually grey when dry and black when wet - either colour being a good foil for flowers.
Paul
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Still waiting for some of the ordered bulbs to turn up, but plants do not wait for anyone! So we do have some things in flower but mainly leaf growth (and labels, see picture). Because of this we have given the bed its first fertilizing of Vitax Q4 powder at 140g per square meter. This is due to there being no nutrients for the plants in the mix.
We have added the following to the bed:-
Allium karataviense ‘Ivory Queen’, Chionodoxa sardesis dark blue form, Crocus Ard Schenk, Crocus biflorus Weldenii Albus, Crocus speciosus ‘Conqueror’, Crocus ‘Orange Monarch’, Crocus pulchellus, Crocus serotinus subsp salzmannii, Crocus speciosus ‘Albus’, Fritillaria imperialis ‘Aurora’, Fritillaria imperialis ‘Rubra’, Fritillaria michailovskyi, Fritillaria persica ‘Ivory Bells’, Leucojum vernum, Muscari armeniacum 'Gül', Muscari macrocarpum, Iris reticulata ‘Sea Breeze’
We now have to hope the last few bits turn up soon.
Colin