>Mike, I always think that the inclusion of very small-sized gravel helps >make a good soil mixture for bulbs. I don't know anything at all about winter-growing bulbs, but in arid and semi-arid environments, plants grow in sandy or coarse soils in order to utilize every bit of precipitation. Nothing to do with "drainage" (a word no visitor to the garden here is allowed to use, unless they also happen to be a plumber). Clay soils hold more water, but less is available to the plant because the water binds to the clay particles like glue. In this part of the world, the evaporation rate in clay exceeds the percolation rate, so it takes a great deal more water to get to plant roots growing in clay than in coarse soils. Called the "inverse texture effect"; "inverse" because it seems counterintuitive compared to information (and drainage talk) from climates with regular rainfall. Even if clay is saturated, there is still less water going to roots than in coarse soils. My raised beds are piles of sand and gravel, nothing else. The plants growing there require less irrigation (in fact, none) than the plants growing in the heavy clay here. Don’t know if this translates well to mediterranean climates (I suspect it does), but might be worth thinking about if you're not going to mimic the native soil of each bulb. Bob Nold Denver, Colorado, USA _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.ibiblio.org http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/