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How to Grow Gladioli
INDEX
- Planting Instructions
- Soil Preparation
- Maintaining Gladioli
Planting Instructions
- Summer flowering Gladioli are available to purchase in Spring
- You can stagger the sowing times of your bulbs & this will in turn give you blooms over longer periods
- Plant a few bulbs when they arrive & you can store the remaining bulbs until ready to plant
- To store your bulbs, remove them from packaging and store in a cool place
- Planting season for Gladioli: Mid to late Spring
- Plant roots so that the crown or growing point is 5cm below soil level
- Spacing: 15 to 40cm apart
- Gladioli companion plants include: Grasses, Iris, Liles, Alliums & Penstemon
Soil Preparation
- Choose a sunny spot for your bulbs
- Gladioli grow to about 50cm in height, they are therefore suited to the front of herbaceous borders
- Requires a well-draining soil
- Avoid damp & water logged soils
- Prepare the soil by loosening with a garden fork
- Add a layer of organic matter or farmyard manure to the surface of the soil & work into the soil with your fork
- If the soil is damp or drains poorly you should sit the bulbs on a bed of sand as this will improve drainage & prevent the bulbs from rotting
- If you don’t have sand, you can use horticultural grit, vermiculite or RHS bulb starter
- Soil pH: Acidic to neutral
Maintaining Gladioli
- After flowers fade in Autumn, you can cut back & remove old foliage
- In Winter mulch over the top of your gladioli bulbs to protect from frost
- Old leaves, straw, manure or chippings will do for this
- In early Spring feed plants with general plant fertiliser or potash
- Clumps need to be divided every 3 or 4 years. This will give you more plants & better blooms
