Re: rebloomers

I'm with Amy.  I don't even do as much as Amy does.  I have raised beds and
add the sawdust mixture to it when I clean the gerble cage.  Our soil is
cly-like and very dense.  Would someone please clarify this issue. 
                        Thanks,
                           Norma   
norma@redrock.net   


>> Linda, I use raised beds, and good soil, divide, water ocassionally and 
>> fertilze heavily!  I double dig my beds (WHAT A CHORE IN MASSACHUSETTS!) 
>> and put compost or manure in the bottom (IN the south, I used Sewage 
>> sludge) and then till and add:  alfalfa pellets, lime, superphosphate, 
>> 13-13-13, gypsum, and extra potash. And then throw the topsoil back on and 
>> then leave the beds for two years and do nothing to them until time to 
>> remake.  So far it has worked well for me.  A lot of work, but I beleive 
>> irises to be heavy feeders.  
>
>Wow, this is exactly opposite from what I've heard.  I've heard that
>bearded irises do NOT want to have a lot of organic matter in their soil
>-- that they will then rot.  So I can see the lime, superphosphate,
>chemical based 13-13-13, gypsum, and potash, but the sewage sludge?
>maybe down in the very very very bottom!
>
>Am I doing something wrong here?  I have my BI's planted in the most
>inorganic soil I have.  I top dress with alfalfa, super phosphate, and
>cedar flake mulch (the lightest mulch I can use -- otherwise I get
>weeds, too much and I get rot).  The cedar flake does raise the pH a bit
>but not much -- we have VERY alkaline soil and irrigation water here.
>-- 
>Amy Moseley Rupp
>amyr@mpd.tandem.com, Austin, TX, zone 8b
>Jill O. *Trades
>Mistress O. {}
>
>
    

        
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