New bulb frame

[Matt T]

I'm sure your winds are worse than ours though.

Enough to drive you mad! Everything here has to be over-engineered (to your eyes) to withstand even an average Hebridean winter.

For my new frame, I'm just propping the lights open on wee blocks of wood. The windows are heavy, so their own weight keeps them in place. I have cut props of varying lengths, but so far have only used the shortest ones because the strong winds have ensured more than adequate ventilation even with a small gap.

Already my plants seem to be responding positively in their new home. It could also be the lengthening daylight hours of course, but many buds are starting to break and some plants that I assumed had not broken dormancy are finally appearing above the surface 

One of my problems here is that I think the bulbs do not always get enough of a baking in the summer. Last summer was not too great, with cool air temperatures and many overcast days. This leads to plants being slow to break dormancy, occasional missed years etc. Once my plants have died back and any excess moisture has evaporated off I'm going to experiment with shutting the frame down to try build up/retain some level of warmth in the frame (without totally roasting them of course). Hopefully then I'll see a difference next season.

[Matt T]

...a fine flora in late spring and summer...

Whilst we have fewer species than most other areas of Scotland/UK and only a few specialities/rarities the sheer volume of flowers here on the machair is quite special. They just go on, and on, and on and on...

[annew]

Magical, Matt.

[Margaret]

Chris ans Matt, wonderful wild flowers, thank you. It's little wonder that wild flower lawns have become so popular in our gardens.

[Matt T]

Our recent moved has provided an opportunity to make a small modification to the bulb frame. I've been struggling to control moisture in the plunge sand and get the pots dry enough in the summer months. The problem is that the frame sits on a concrete slab, rainfall seeps across the surface and is drawn up by the sand/pots, so despite being covered the potting medium stays (too) moist. Photo 1 shows a pot that has been stood on the plunge and one that hasn't. As a result, I've lost a couple of bulbs but thankfully have a very low incidence of Stag.

My solution has been to create a void, breaking the linkage between the wet ground and plunge sand. I've used the plastic grids usually placed over grass for hard-wearing parking areas etc (Photo 2). They are rigid, strong and give good support for the weight above and are easily cut with a saw to fit to the space (Photo 3).

[Matt T]

Concerned that I might be creating a perched water table, I've added some strips of fabric to act as wicks between the base of the plunge and the ground below, hopefully allowing water to drain away (photo 4). The whole has then been covered with a woven horticultural fabric (photo 5) lining the plunge onto which a bed of sand is laid (photo 6). The pots are now neatly packed in again (photo 7).

[Maggi Young]

That seems like a good idea, Matt.  And a  very neat execution of it.

[annew]

VERY neat. Those plastic panels are just what I've been looking for to stand pots onto which otherwise would be on gravel - I've tried all sorts of netting but the pots usually just fall over. I need it so that plants are prevented from rooting through into the gravel by air-pruning of the roots as they emerge.

[brianw]

You used the grids in the grass mode and then used wicks to get some water uptake. Would you not have got the same effect using the grid in the gravel filled mode (up the other way) and not needed to use the wicks? I guess the gravel size would determine the efficiency of "wicking" effect and contact with the pots drainage holes.

[johnw]

Good grief Matt, that's what I thought labelling and bulb frames were like on the other side of the pearly gates.

We have used the cheap white grid sheets sold to diffuse light on fluorescent fixtures. However small-bottomed pots do fall over on it with any jittery movements.

johnw

[Matt T]

You used the grids in the grass mode and then used wicks to get some water uptake. Would you not have got the same effect using the grid in the gravel filled mode (up the other way) and not needed to use the wicks? I guess the gravel size would determine the efficiency of "wicking" effect and contact with the pots drainage holes.

Hi Brian,
The wicks are in place to allow water to drain away rather than water uptake. If the plunge was left suspended above the void there's a chance that surface tension would keep the water sitting in the plunge. In theory, the wicks will maintain a degree of hydrological connectivity and allow excess water to drain out. I appreciate that some water will be wicked up at times, but this will be much less than if the whole body of the sand plunge was in contact with the ground. It's all a learning process so I'm experimenting with different options to create the right conditions here.
M

[Matt T]

Good grief Matt, that's what I thought labelling and bulb frames were like on the other side of the pearly gates.

We have used the cheap white grid sheets sold to diffuse light on fluorescent fixtures. However small-bottomed pots do fall over on it with any jittery movements.

johnw

The benefit of the annual repot is being able to reorganise the complete collection! 

The grids you show were my first thought, but I couldn't find any suitable on Amazon - they all had a grid that was too large to support my plunge/pots. These turf grids give great support, even for small pots (most of mine are 7cm) prior to the sand plunge being laid and there were no issues with toppling.