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Grow It Yourself: Turning Bulbs Into Beautiful Blooms | Agriculture | Learning English/*
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RSS FeedGrow It Yourself: Turning Bulbs Into Beautiful Blooms ?11 April 2011
Photo: APA woman picks tulips in Pulheim, Germany Share ThisDiggYahoo! BuzzFacebookdel.icio.usStumbleUponRelated ArticlesIn the Garden: Getting Started With RosesIn the Garden: Getting the Most Out of MumsIn the Garden, Making the Most of MulchHome Gardening: What to Do About LeadDo-It-Yourself: Growing TomatoesDo-It-Yourself: Compost for the GardenGrowing Chili Peppers:? A Heated SubjectDo-It-Yourself: Pruning Plants (First of Two Parts)Scientists Help Cut the Mystery Behind PruningDo-It-Yourself: Growing PotatoesTO DOWNLOAD the MP3 of this story, click on the MP3 link in the upper right corner of the page. Double-click any word to find the definition in the Merriam-Webster Learner's Dictionary
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
Bulbs are underground plant stems. They provide food for a shoot. Some bulbs produce flowers year after year. Gardening experts say tulips, daffodils and other bulbs are not very difficult to grow.
Bulbs do well in climates with a cold season. They are placed in the ground about the time of the first frost. But, with the right preparation, they can also grow well in places where the ground never freezes.
Mike Lizotte of American Meadows, an online store, says before you start, you need know whether to plant tender bulbs or hardy bulbs. If you live in a cold area, a tender bulb will need special care when the growing season is over.
MIKE LIZOTTE: "If you want that bulb to survive or come back, you would need to literally dig it out of the ground and bring it inside to a warm area because it just -- it will not survive, or it would get killed by the cold temperatures."
But Mike Lizotte says a hardy bulb can stay in the ground all year.
MIKE LIZOTTE: "A hardy bulb is one that prefers cold temperatures.? So therefore it can be left in the ground, such as a daffodil or tulip."
Sandra Mason from the University of Illinois Extension service has some suggestions to get a good start on planting bulbs. First, the most important thing is to choose a place with soil that drains well.
SANDRA MASON: "How wet the soil is, that ends up being a big issue. For certain areas, if you have a lot of clay in your soil, you may find that bulbs do not last a long time for you, as in just a couple years.? Or you may find they just do not do very well at all, and they actually rot in the soil."
Sandra Mason suggests planting most big bulbs like tulips or daffodils about fifteen to twenty centimeters deep. Smaller bulbs can be planted about seven to ten centimeters deep. She says she enjoys planting smaller ones like snowdrop bulbs.
SANDRA MASON: "I love planting those because you do not need to dig a very deep hole. We like those!"
Bulbs should be planted with their pointed end up, toward the surface. But some bulbs do not seem to have a pointy end. In that case, Ms. Mason says, look for an "eye" that might have a stem. But don't worry if you cannot find one.
SANDRA MASON: "The good news is, the bulbs will figure it out."
Do not use fertilizer for the first year. After that, if you do fertilize the bulbs, do not mix the fertilizer in the planting hole. It could burn the roots.
There is a trick people can use to grow bulbs in places where the ground never freezes. Keep the bulbs cold in a refrigerator for about three months, then take them out and let them get used to the warmth. Now the bulbs will be ready to develop normally, colorful blooms and all.
And that’s the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. Share your gardening stories and get more advice at voaspecialenglish.com. We're also on the VOA Learning English page on Facebook. I’m Bob Doughty.
Listen? Email? Print? Comments?Comments (22)11-04-2011Joruji(Japan)Thank you for posting several links to related articles. I'm looking forward to read one by one, later. Agriculture Report is one of my favorite programs.
12-04-2011Wendy(China)Very interesting, i love tulips.
12-04-2011tata(indonesia)Tulip flowers are very beautiful and attractive eyes.
12-04-2011Soo-Chang(South Korea)A flower is very helpful for those, serving various purposes like control of human emotion, care of sickness or relief of stress from rutin life. We have to understand that just seeing it is easier than growing it.
12-04-2011Aginosa Ryan(Indonesia)Thanks Voa... I got a new Information about planting.
12-04-2011I love flowers, although I never planted one.And recenlty I'm considerring to plant some as I'm gonna move to my new house.Tulips are beautiful ones, and there are many different color of them,such as red, white, yellow, and even mixed color. However, I won't choose tulips, because only the bulbs are left after growing season.
12-04-2011Aung(Myanmar)I love planting small and medium plants like money plant, rose plant and over vegetables.It makes me feel fresh and reduce stress. Thanks to VOA for good report.
12-04-2011AmyWu(China)Hi, Thanks for nice voice of Bob. I like flowers, but I did not have an chance to plant them, I want to have a try later.
12-04-2011nhv(vietnam)I love tulips. I wonder whether tulips can grow in a small pot? I wish I can plant a small flower garden in the balcony of my apartment. In my city, the temperature is quite high. The air is polluted. So maybe it is difficult for tulips to grow.
12-04-2011thanh nguyen(vietnam)i like the beauty of tulips very much, can i plant them in Vietnam?
12-04-2011Legend(china)I like flowers as VOA,hehe~~
12-04-2011Guohx(China)I like the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.Thinks.
12-04-2011drac(China)agriculture is sth fundamental, but it never reduce any of its importance, on the contrary, it's so important that humanbeing never ceases exploring this area and tries to dig deeper of it, a little bit progress will surely make us happy and we strive to increase output, improve efficiency anything else related, as part of biology, it's supposed to be glittering.
12-04-2011Kaori(Japan)I like raise plants.I have never heard keep the bulbs cold in a fridge and do not mix the fertilizer in the planting hole.so I will try those tips next timefor beautiful bllom.
12-04-2011alexandre(brazil)it′s good, the VOA is a good site, at the same time we study english and learning about differents issues.
12-04-2011EmikoThanks for the article, I may try to plant tulips this year! I feel a little bit troublesome to take out bulbs before freezing winter coming though.
12-04-2011sophia(korea)I love tulip.I take care of plants.but last winter was very cold.I am afraid my plants has died.
12-04-2011THOMAS(TAIWAN)I really appreciate your writing so that I can understand these flowers and how to garden them well. Taiwan can be the good gardening place to flourish flowers and become a blosom center.
12-04-2011Bernys(Venezuela)Thanks for this page web, It's important for learning and practice english with differents topics.
12-04-2011Slava(CR)When I was child were tulips symbol of celebration International Day of Women eighth march.
12-04-2011Socheata(Cambodia)I love do gardening it makes me happy. Thank you for the tips of planting some kinds of bulbs like tulip and daffodil.
12-04-2011Maki(Japan)Tulip and daffodil are also vernal flowers that we see around here in my country, very popular. They remind me of spring coming. Actually, my prefecture's symbol flower is tulip, too. Now I've learned why that flower has been chosen. I live in Niigata Prefecture that has a lot of snow in winter. Now snow is gone that the season of tulip comes. I wonder what are flowers of spring in America. In Japan, horsetails grow wild, and I ate butterbur sprout the other day.
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