bend wyatt one crop

bend wyatt one crop

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Spring NOW!

 
 Are you sick of winter?
 
 
Are you dreaming of spring?
 
Drat...not for awhile!
 
As Blogville's "Director of Agriculture", I'm here to help you out of your winter doldrums!
 
Let's start some Spring Indoors!
 
Daffodils, amaryllis, paperwhites and hyacinths (especially grape hyacinths) make excellent candidates for growing indoors. Keep in mind that many hyacinth varieties will need to be pre-chilled
for six weeks or longer before planting. Reject any moldy, bruised or shriveled bulbs.
 
You can plant your bulbs in pots or containers filled with potting soil or gravel, or try using eggshells, which can be planted directly into the garden after flowering. Remove the top quarter of the eggshell, set the egg aside and rinse the shell with warm water.
Add a small amount of gravel to the bottom of each eggshell.
Sit the bulb on top of the gravel. Add a bit of soil to help anchor the bulb and dress the eggshell with moss to help maintain moisture. Gently water your eggshell garden and place it in a sunny spot.
Allow the soil to dry in-between waterings, usually once a week. Within six weeks, you should see flower buds form and blossom.
Try swapping out gravel for Mardi Gras beads for a festive arrangement that will bloom just in time for Fat Tuesday.
 
 
If you've forced bulbs before and experienced flowers that topple over, try this trick: mixing a little bit of alcohol in with the water will cause the flower stems to grow shorter.
To make a five percent solution, mix one part isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) with ten parts water. If you want to waste perfectly good “hard liquor” (typically 40% distilled spirit) such as gin, whiskey, or vodka, mix together one part liquor and seven parts water.
 Note that the sugars in beer and wine don’t do the trick for the bulbs.
We have started some Voodoo Lilies...Oooo Spooky!
 

Happy Spring!!
Wyatt
and Tegan
 

18 comments:

  1. We never heard of that tip before! Yes, our mom is waaaaaay tired of winter!

    Your Pals,

    Murphy & Stanley

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  2. Thanks for the great tips!!! We know we can learn a lot from you guys. But as for winter, we don't think it has even arrived here yet:)

    Woos - Lightning and Misty

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  3. Oh thank you. We were going through garden withdrawal

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  4. Wow! Thanks for the advice. It's pretty gloomy around here today!

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  5. What a fantabulous way to see some early Spring color! Thanks so much for showing such great initiative as Blogville's Director of Agriculture!!
    Smileys!!
    Mayor Arty

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  6. Thank you for helping us out of the winter blues
    Lily & Edward

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  7. That's a great idea but our mom has a brown thumb. We can't wait to see how your flowers come out.

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  8. OMD, those are FABulous tips guys! I am SO over all the rain!!!! it's gonna be rainin' for the next week, so I can't eats .... i MEAN....enjoy my outside flowers.
    Kisses,
    Ruby ♥

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  9. Great ideas. You can have Spring, even if Mother Nature decides to play up this year.

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  10. oh that's like a dream... and we deam a lot fo spring :o)

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  11. Winter has let me down here Wyatt….only 87 flakes of snow so I am VERY ready for Spring
    GREAT reminder about bulbs, I usually have a huge glass vase in my conservatory filled with daffy this time of year and the peeps have forgotten to do it! I will nag them immediately and what a pawsome tip with the alcohol, that'll stop them peeking over the top of the vase. (although I'd best get the rubbing sort as I can't imagine how I'd nick some of Mum's gin from her!)
    Loves and licky kisses
    Princess Leah xxx

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  12. You sure do have us smiling at all of those beautiful spring flowers, Wyatt! Great tips!

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  13. It's been getting warm here all the sudden!

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  14. Your momma has a whole green hand, not just a thumb!
    stella rose

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  15. Yes Wyatt we are sooooo tired of the frigid cold and soooo ready for spring. thanks for the tips. This summer Mom and dAd want to build a green house since they will ber retired and have more time for a garden
    hugs
    Mr bailey, Hazel & Mabel

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  16. Gosh Wyatt, Blogville is so fortunate to have you in post as Director of Agriculture. If things were left to a certain brown fingered human sat next to me right now, her species would be in danger reverting to the hunter-gatherer mode of life...
    Toodle pip!
    Bertie.

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  17. It looks interesting but we are still in the heart of winter with dumps of snow and now -10f temps. Looks like it will be a while!

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  18. Our winter has been pretty mild, but we are still excited for spring!

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