Things You'll Need:
- Topsoil or peat moss
- Compost
- Garden tools: shovel, rake, bucket, water hose
- Bloom fertilizer
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Step 1
Prepare your irises in the fall by first cutting off all above-ground foliage. This leaves you with only the underground tubers to deal with.
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Step 2
Dig down into the tubers and separate as many as every other tuber that shows a sprout. The tubers that you remove can be planted elsewhere or disposed of. This step can be difficult because the tubers grow deep and tangle around each other. The iris tubers are also thick and hard to cut through.
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Step 3
Place a layer of compost on top of the tubers that remain and water well. This helps distribute the nutrients to the tubers and roots to be absorbed over the winter.
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Step 4
Cover the tubers with several inches of topsoil or peat moss. This is essentially a blanket to put your irises to bed for their winter dormancy.
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Step 1
Rake away the excess topsoil that remains over your tubers and apply a layer of compost. Water well to distribute the nutrients.
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Step 2
Check to make sure that your irises are receiving plenty of sunlight. As the sun warms the soil and temperatures rise, you will see your iris leaves start poking out of the soil.
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Step 3
Water regularly to make sure that your irises have plenty of moisture to assist in the budding and blooming process. Add a simple bloom fertilizer to your watering routine before the irises begin to bloom.
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Step 4
Enjoy as your irises begin to bloom in early spring and provide full color displays wherever you have them planted. The blooms will last for several weeks, and afterward you will still have plenty of green leaves to fill in the area.
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Step 5
Repeat the fall preparation process each year to ensure that you always have irises that are ready to bloom in the spring. Thinning is very important to making sure that the iris can get enough nutrients from the soil. If there are too many tubers in one area, the soil can become depleted and your irises may not bloom at all.
