Gladioli

I just bunged them in a trough of old compost with a bit of fertiliser jiggled in. No sand involved. They grew fine.

 

.I would post a boasting photo but I can't work out how to do it. All this stuff about URLS . I don't understand

 

Worked out how to do it on my phone this was the only pic I could find but you get the idea

 

Thank you. As you know, they die from the bottom so I cut off the flowers that were left at the top.

 

Can't help you much as I don't really like them! I grow Acidantheras, which is the same sort of thing though, and I just start them in pots, kept only just dampened, in a dry, frost free site, which usually means the house, unless I don't buy them until about mid April, when they can manage in the gr'house, and then they go out in the raised beds, or pots, once there's no frost risk.
I don't bother trying to keep them over winter though, as I wouldn't have room in the house, and they don't survive in the gr'house - too damp. They're very cheap, which probably makes them more viable than their bigger cousins.

 

This time of year i pot them up individually and then i put them in the the garden when I've got space. They need staking when they've grown. I don't feed them just water them in dry weather until established. Dig them up just before the frost in late autumn and store them in a frost free place. I put them in the garage in a cardboard box with paper around them.

 

I'm so sorry ...it'll never happen again. Honest guv...

Better go for my walk before I cause any more trouble...

 

Hi @Fat Controller I have found that the smaller gladioli are more likely to come back each year - possibly because they are nearer to species. I have a slowly increasing clump of gladiolus "Ruby" - I recommend it

 

For me both gladioli and acidanthera tend to disappear after the first year, or only a few come up. Given up on both now, but I do wish I could grow the wild-type G. byzantinus. They're supposed to like light soil but I don't think they read the textbook