Ask Mavis: Saving Tulip Bulbs, Pruning Potatoes, Growing Radishes All Season Long, Edible Landscapes, and More

It’s that time again. You ask, and I pretend to know things and answer your burning questions. It really is so much fun to open my inbox and see the wide variety of questions you guys have. Reminds me that my readers are so diverse and pretty dang awesome. So keep those questions coming and I’ll keep racking my brain for answers. As always, please pipe up if you have any input or are knowledgeable when it comes to any of the following questions:

Hi Mavis, Today in my town was the Annual Tulip Pull. That’s where you can go to the City Garden and pull up the Tulip bulbs for free, so that the gardeners can put in the summer flower display. I pulled up a lot (more than I meant too, lol) and now I’m not sure if I can plant them right away, or if they need to be stored until fall. They have already bloomed, but still have the stem and leaves. Any thoughts, have you or any reader’s done this before?

Thanks! Megan, from Michigan

How cool is that that your town lets you come pull them?!  I wouldn’t plant them right away.  Instead, line a box with newspaper and allow the leaves and stems to die back on their own.  Once they are dry, brittle, and kind of flake to the touch, you can remove them {in a couple of weeks}.

Once you have removed the leaves and stem, brush any dirt off of the bulb.  It’s best to put the bulbs in a box layered with newspaper or sawdust.  Make sure to lay them in a single layer, and separate each new layer with the newspaper and/or sawdust.  Once they are boxed up, they should be stored in the fridge {ideally}.  Leave them in the fridge until fall and then plant them into the ground.  That should do the trick.

Keep in mind, once you have pulled a flowering bulb, they may not flower the following year after planting.  They occasionally want you to know they are not amused by your transplanting shenanigans, but they should rally the following year.

 

I am a huge fan of radishes… I love them raw, in salads, roasted (so delicious)! I am hoping you may have a gardening suggestion for me. I live in the PNW in a small town about 30 minutes north of Vancouver, WA. For the past two years, I’ve had horrible problems with my radishes bolting in our unusually warm spring weather.

This year I planted Easter egg radishes. I planted round one in pots (my garden stays too wet to plant early due to clay in soil), and they worked out great. Round two, planted two weeks later, are starting to flower. I would love to succession plant so I have radishes all summer… Do you have any suggestions? Have you tried varieties that are bolt resistant? Will they grow in the shade?

~Sara

I totally get your desire to plant them all season, radishes are rad.  I personally have not dealt with bolt-resistant varieties, though, I am sure a quick web search would turn up some options.  If you are willing to put in the extra effort, I would plant them all in pots that are easily moved.  

Allow them to get full morning sun and then move them to a nice, cool shady area in the yard.  They may not grow quite as fast as they would with full light, but they won’t bolt as quickly either.  It’s a trade-off.  You could also try mulching the heck out of them with grass clippings to protect them from the heat.  Those would be my best suggestions–maybe some of my readers could offer more?

Hi Mavis, Do you know anything about pruning potato plants? Volunteer potatoes are taking over in the raised beds, and crowding out all the tomatoes! So the question seems to be prune, or dig them up.

Thanks! Leslie

Well, I think you could potentially do a combination of the two.  While the tomatoes are small and their root system is less likely to be disturbed, I would dig the potatoes up.  That will get rid of the problem all together.  If you still have potato vines mid to late season, just lop them off at dirt level.  The potatoes may still grow {and even continue to send up green}, but they will be little bitty and likely not cause a ton of issues with the tomatoes.

Mavis, HELP!!!!!! My brother was living with me and he had 2 large, sweet dogs BUT, unbeknownst to me, they peed quite a bit on carpet and I did not know about this & I think he felt he took care of it. I just pulled up the old carpet and I am so grossed out!!!! The sub floor is terrible and there are a few places where the sub has raised up.. I really cannot afford to replace the whole floor so, what can I do about this situation to get the raised areas smooth and take care of the smell. You suggested an oil based primer after you took care of your urine issue. Hope you can offer some advice.

~Sarah

Oh boy, that sub floor thing can be a bummer.  I would honestly hire a contractor for that portion.  They may be able to replace parts of the sub floor, rather than the entire thing.  Any construction gurus out there that can answer this one?  For the parts that aren’t warped, yes, do the oil based sealer.  It did the trick for us.  Now that the carpet is up, it goes on easy pleasy.

Hi do you have the list of veggies and herbs that are companions? Hoping to have a small garden on the porch

~Joyce

I do, just click HERE for my chart!  For a more in depth information, I highly recommend Carrots Love Tomatoes:  Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening.

Hi Mavis, I’ve been following your blog for quite a while now and love reading about your gardening and not gardening related adventures alike. Being a frugal girl myself, I have quite a tight budget this year that I intend to spend mostly on books and one of the gardening subjects that I would like to learn some more about is edible landscaping.

So I was wondering whether you have any recommendations about a good book on the subject? I live in Europe, my USDA gardening zone equivalent would be 5. Say hi to Lucy from me :)!

~Susan

The only two I have ever really looked at are the Edible Garden {I actually gave this one as a gift a few years ago, and it was very well received}.  It’s available used on Amazon.  The other one was Edible Landscaping.  Both had great ideas that I have integrated into my own garden.  Maybe some of my readers could offer additional suggestions?!

Thanks for sending in your questions…keep ’em coming.

~Mavis