When bulb time passes you by

We're officially in the bulb-buying season. I know this only because I have been to Costco recently, where they still dare to fill the big metal racks with bags of daffodils, hyacinth, globe allium and tulips.

I didn't need more bulbs, and am only slightly hopeful they will grow. Yet, when Costco goes to all the trouble to fill those huge racks, I usually take the bait. It's a good thing I don't have children because I would have also filled my cart with that cute plastic fireman's Halloween costume and the frilly fairy dress.

I still have a few bags of bulbs from last year, which only serves to underscore what I hope will not become an increasing lack of gardening enthusiasm.

Buying garden-related merchandise, even habitually, will help keep the gardening economy alive even if the new climate means all of our efforts are like climbing Mt. Lassen after sitting on the couch for a year and a half.

Even before more bulbs made their way from the metal rack to my cart, I had decided it was time to sprout hyacinth bulbs in vases of water on the windowsill at work. This is a ritual I began when I moved from the white metal cubicles of a previous work space and found myself with an office window. Nothing can make a Monday more manageable than opening a closed door and smelling a hyacinth flower that has bloomed over the weekend.

I had bulbs in my refrigerator, I reasoned. I saw them this summer when I was habitually drinking chilled sparkling water to help me avoid heat stroke.

There aren't many bulbs that need to be pre-chilled in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator, but hyacinth is one. The usual recommendation is for 8-14 weeks and now I know why.

My bulbs were as soft as a clove of garlic baked in the oven for 45 minutes, which means leaving them in the refrigerator for a year was less than ideal.

I tossed them onto the dry dirt at the side of the house, because who knows, something could happen.

Recent research for chilling hyacinth bulbs (((((hotlink https://www. hortmag.com/weekly-tips/ bulb-planting-why-andhow-to-pre-cool-flowerbulbs)))) reveals not only should you chill bulbs for only a few months, you should also rescue them with a trowel in one hand and place to plant them in mind. If you let the bulbs warm, due to distraction or laziness, all of that chill time will have been another waste of your time.

As always, keep bulbs away from fruit, which releases ethylene gas and can cause your bulbs to turn into a disappointment.