Gladdies !

As if I don't grow enough (veg/dahlias/roses/fuchsias/cactus) I've also decided to have another go at gladioli this year. We had a talk from Martin Bryans at our Hort.Soc. the other evening and it's inspired me to try again. I've often thrown a few corms in over the years and won the odd class but usually when there were no other 'spikes' to compete against! I must admit a nice set of well-staged glads is a wonderful sight to behold and no other flower offers the colour range of gladdies!

One thing Martin did say is that they need to be grown on different ground each year on a rotation cycle of about 4-5 years. Also, growing them on land that has previously had spuds in the last 15 years is a complete no-no. Apparently they go yellow and die and no-one knows why!

You need to be planting the corms about now 5" deep on a 1/2" layer of grit or sharp sand. As soon as they poke through start feeding either Maxicrop foliar feed or Phostrogen in wet summers to harden them up a bit.

When the flower spike 'throws up' then (and only then) they are tied to a cane pushed into the ground. If the bottom floret is out on the Tuesday before a Sunday show then the whole spike needs to be cut and put in a dark place. Apparently it will be perfect by show day ! A perfect show bloom has 8 florets fully out, the next 8 showing colour and the top 8 (or more) in tight bud. It's perfectly acceptable to cut off the lower floret if it has gone over however. A good supplier is www.showglads.com

Now......where the hell am I going to plant these corms?????