Cultural Directions 
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PREPARE YOUR GROUND 
Do it in fall if you can, otherwise spring is good enough. If the ground is not heavily 
fertilized, put some manure on top and spade it in, digging deep because fancy spikes can be 
grown only in deep, fertile soil. Your garden should always be worked this way. You have 
a very limited space for your flowers, and it is no trick to have the soil prepared properly. You 
invested big money to buy your lot, you pay plenty taxes, you pay a big water bill for your 
flowers, and sweat yourself over your flowers, and they are a failure because you want to save 
fertilizer and work when preparing the ground. If the ground is heavy and stiff, use a large 
quantity of peat, or humus, and a generous amount of manure. This material should not be 
placed in the bottom but mixed throughout the soil. This gives the roots a chance to penetrate 
into the subsoil and make sturdy plants. This type of treatment will give your bed a perma¬ 
nent improvement. 
GUARD AGAINST THIEVES 
No matter how well you prepare your ground, if the roots of neighboring trees grow 
into your bed, its fertility is gone. They steal every drop of water and every ounce of ferti¬ 
lizer you put on. Cut off such roots at the edge of the bed. 
Tree roots grow a hundred feet or more in search of food. They know nothing about 
property rights, they are worse than the neighbor’s chickens, which scratch only the surface. 
The neighboring trees dig underground passages with complete transportation system in order 
to drain off the fertility supply of your flowers. You may safely cut off the roots of those 
trees at the point where they enter your garden. It will not harm the trees. 
PLANTING TIME 
Plant some of your large bulbs early, about the middle of April for Chicago and vi¬ 
cinity. We have seen many late frosts, but never any damage on Gladiolus. They will bloom 
as soon as the peonies are gone. Plant your main crop and your small bulbs and bulblets in 
the beginning of May and plant other large bulbs at the end of May or the beginning of June. 
DISCARDED BULBS 
You will have some bulbs of antiquated or less desirable varieties which you shall 
want to put to their last service. Plant them very late, at the end of June or beginning of 
July. They will bring late flowers, at the time when most of the Gladiolus are through bloom¬ 
ing, but will not form good bulbs. Leave them out in the ground to freeze. 
PLANTING 
Plant four to six inches deep depending on the type of soil. If you plant in rows, 
you may hill up the soil to prevent the plants from falling over at blooming time. Space bulbs 
four inches apart for show flowers. For regular flowers or for small bulbs they can be planted 
much closer. 
CULTIVATION 
A weekly loosening of the ground around the plants is to be recommended. It will 
preserve the moisture and less watering will be necessary. Do not cultivate deep. 
WATERING 
If there is no moisture supply by rain, a thorough watering is most beneficial. It 
takes greater quantities of water than people usually figure, in order to get the water deep 
into the ground. It would take an ordinary garden hose three days and three nights to soak a 
lot one hundred by two hundred feet eighteen inches deep. Shallow watering is wasteful 
because it dries up the following day and has the tendency to bring the roots of the plants 
close to the surface where cultivation destroys them. 
FEEDING 
Gladiolus can use a great amount of fertilizer. Easiest to apply is a chemical com¬ 
plete fertilizer of the usual formula 5-15-5 or similar. It takes twenty-five pounds to one 
thousand square feet for one application. Three applications a month apart are just right. 
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