Warm midwinter weather confusing to bulbs
Question: My crocuses and tulips are poking their heads out of the dirt in my garden. They're growing. We had great spring weather in January. Should I let them continue, or should I put some more dirt on them?
Don't do anything to them. They should be fine unless we get some unusually cold weather for this time of year. If you get nervous because of some predicted cold temperatures, just lay a sheet or light blanket over them until it warms the next morning.
Next winter, in December, you might cover them with a layer of loose mulch, such as wood chips, a couple of inches thick to help keep the soil cool and reduce their response to warm weather. This will help slow them down in cases such as these where we have warm January weather.
Bob Morris is a professor emeritus in horticulture with the University of Nevada and can be reached at extremehort@aol.com. Visit his blog at xtremehorticulture.blogspot.com.
