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It's time to let indoor plants take a rest, add to compost pile

By Marianne Binetti | For The Olympian • Published November 15, 2008

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For squirrel control, sprinkle red pepper flakes on top of the soil right after you plant bulbs or put your bulbs into plastic pots with a piece of chicken wire on top and bury the pots and wire in the garden. Planting pots of bulbs into the garden also will foil field mice and voles that love to eat tulips. When spring is sprung, it will be easy to remove the pots and bulbs and replant with summer annuals.

Slugs will destroy daffodil and tulip buds so beat them to the munch by using pet-safe slug baits such as Worry Free or Sluggo in early spring as soon as you see the green shoots peeking from the soil.

Another tip is to set a small, clay flower pot upside down near your budded bulbs. The slugs, earwigs and sow bugs will migrate to the flower pot looking for a damp and protected place to hide during the day. All you have to do is lift the pot and punish the invaders as you see fit.

I have heard that some super kind gardeners transfer the contents of the flower pot to the compost pile or woodland garden as a forced relocation program. When it comes to slugs, I prefer the catch, drop and stomp method of slime control. I love nature but draw the line at extra slime on my hands.

November is not too late to plant bulbs for spring blooms. If you're a procrastinator with bulbs bought but still not planted, just dig in. Even if all you have the time and energy for is a very shallow hole, you can put dozens of bulbs in one hole just a few inches deep and then cover the area with a mound of soil, sand, chopped leaves or even gravel. When you buy a bulb, the flower inside is already formed so you don't need to give it fertile soil. What the bulb needs is eight to 12 weeks of cold weather and good drainage.

The perfect place for growing bulbs that return year after year is a sunny slope or hillside where the soil is allowed to dry out in the summer. If you place your spring-blooming bulbs in an area of the garden that gets watered by the sprinklers all summer, your bulbs could rot.

Here's one more idea for controlling the critters that want your bulbs: Plant daffodils, tulips, crocus and a mix of all other spring blooming bulbs all in the same container garden shoulder-to-shoulder, layer upon layer, in the same potting soil that once held your summer-blooming geraniums or petunias. Leaving a few old roots in the pot from the summer annuals is fine. Now keep the newly-potted bulb garden close to the house so you can fend off the deer and cover it with mesh to keep out the squirrels. In spring you'll be doing the happy dance to a symphony of color.

Marianne Binetti has a degree in horticulture from Washington State University and is the author of several books. For gardening questions, write to her at P.O. Box 872, Enumclaw, WA 98022. Please send a SASE for a personal reply. She also can be reached at her Web site, www.binettigarden.com.