Hi all,

I'm not a gardener, and I don't even play one on TV. But last year I got a nice dishgarden with some bulbs in it for my birthday. Tulips and daffodils and I'm not sure what else, maybe six in all. I cut them back and planted them in a whiskey barrell on my back porch I retired the dish. I forgot all about them until yesterday, when I noticed three great big huge bulb sprouts and one tiny one. The biggest one is about 6" and has little buds on it. I started to pull out the weeds covering the topsoil, and I got the big stuff out, but as I worked on the littler ones, it seemed I might be disturbing the soil too much.

What ought I do?

-- Kathy (katherin@mindspring.com), March 10, 2000

Answers

Tulips and daffodils are unlikely to keel over if you disturb the soil around their tops a bit. Be gentle, and you should be okay. If the weeds are really small, you might be able to just pinch them off at the base rather than dig them out, but they'll probably come back then.

-- Beth (beth@xeney.com), March 10, 2000.

And next time, don't cut back the tops. They draw in their food and such into the bulbs for the next season.

-- Renee (justme@justme.org), March 11, 2000.

Thanks all for your feedback. For the curious, here is my one blooming bulb, weeds and all:

I do not know what it is. Hyacinth?

-- Kathy (katherin@mindspring.com), March 21, 2000.

How annoying...I screwed up the url for the photo. So sorry! This is it, really: http://www.mindspring.com/~lifeasart/blooming.jpg

-- Kathy (katherin@mindspring.com), March 21, 2000.