So, from seeing lots of people’s blooms on Instagram and the likes, I quickly fell in love with what appears to be the Goldilocks of all flowers…the Ranunculus!
I thought it may be useful to document my growing experience, as from constantly watching everyone else’s progress, one thing I learned was that nature is going to happen when it’s good and ready and sometimes it’s important to relax and trust the process!
Last Autumn, with no real knowledge of gardening in general, nevermind this fussy natured little beauty, I purchased 10 corms and was ready for action.
I soaked them in water for about 20 minutes and then planted them in pots – about 5 of them crammed per 20 cm pot, left them to fend for themselves outside in the same way I did my daffs and tulips and I sat back waiting for the magic to happen!
Fast forward to the start of 2021 and the beginning of my love affair with cut flowers, I started to learn quite a lot about these stunning blooms.
They don’t like the real cold neither do they like to be too hot; they don’t like to be dry but also hate being too wet… the list seemed to go on and on; I quickly realised that throwing them in a pot and hoping for the best wasn’t my finest strategy.
Needless to say, it didn’t end too well for my first Autumn sowing!
They threw up a few shoots, looked very unwell to say the least and when I investigated, they had no roots whatsoever, they'd completely rotted off.
So they all went in the bin.
This was 8th March 2021.
By then it was too late; I was well and truly bitten by Ranunculus fever and I HAD to have them! So off trawling the internet I went and bought 10 plug plants from a well-known flower company that were in their end of season sale. I also bought 30 corms from another company; I was getting flowers this year!
On 20th March, with my new-found knowledge under my belt, I soaked the corms for 3 hours. I planted the them in their own 9cm pot, watered them in a little (they really don’t need a lot of water at this stage, just so the compost is a little damp which stops the corms from drawing all the moisture out the compost completely) and placed them all somewhere cool to allow them to sprout. They look like little shriveled baby octopus to start with but a after soaking they plump up quite a bit. Their roots and shoots both come from the top of the corms, fascinating really!
By the 10th April, 28 out of the 30 corms I’d planted up had sprouted and were looking well. 2 didn’t make it but I didn’t feel that was a bad strike rate for my first go! The plug plants I’d bought were starting to perk up a little bit (they looked a little sorry for themselves on arrival and in hindsight I shouldn’t have had big expectations from buying discounted plants!)
All of the plants were living in the zippy greenhouse in the day (or out on the patio if the weather was nice) but were being fully babied and being brought back into the house at night. Now before you judge me… we were still getting plenty of hard frosts …there was no way I was losing these babies now! I was too far in!
14th April and all the plants were looking really healthy, my excitement of getting flowers was growing and growing! I had already dug a new bed to house these little fellas and was waiting (not so patiently) for when the time was right to plant them out.
What felt like an age later, I decided I just had to take the plunge… the weather has been crazy in the UK and we were having full on frosts but I was getting worried that my window for flowers was getting shorter! All the things I read were telling me that they’re cool weather flowers and if temps get too hot, the corms would start to shut down for the year. It’s fair to say I was full on panicking at this point!!
So armed with my new fleece tunnel courtesy of Wilkos (bargain central!) on 25th April I planted all 38 plants into my new bed.
Over the next couple of weeks, I was fleecing them most nights as we were still having frosts into May (WHAT???!!!) and although I’m assured they can withstand a little frost, I wasn’t taking any chances!!!
Throughout May, Ranunculus Watch took place in my garden at around 0630 each morning…nothing. Had I started sprouting them too late? Had I not put them in the ground early enough? Had I put them in too early? The struggle was real!
Then on 31st May I spotted BUDS!!!! 3 plants had buds on, I can’t tell you how excited I was. (Although Insta knew all about it!)
Over the next few days these numbers increased – by the 7th June I had 9 plants in bud, by the 11th I had 15 and 2 of them had opened!
At the time of writing this (26th June) nearly all plants have had blooms and I've been cutting from them regularly. I may have been a little late getting started with them but to have these glorious flowers to use in arrangements each day, has been absolutely fabulous!
I am going to be honest and say these are probably the most demanding flower I’ve grown yet, that being said, will I be growing them again for next year? 100%!!! I will be ready this Autumn, with the knowledge I have gathered during this season and I will be ready for spring 2022!
I hope that this has been helpful in some way and maybe piqued your interest to possibly dip your toe into the world of Ranunculus growing… just be ready to blow on their porridge for them if it’s a little hot! x
Comentários