Wednesday, October 10, 2012

It's Never too Early

A couple of weeks ago I posted about my outing to Dickman Farms local garden center.  One of the things I picked up was a pack of 20 Narcissus bulbs.

[caption id="attachment_573" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Spring Bulbs[/caption]

The Gardening Gods told me "Fall is the time for planting"!  And who am I to argue?  But after a summer full of planting, I wasn't so sure I could fully embrace this declaration, but I was willing to at least stick a few bulbs in ground.  Especially because my Mom someone assured me it's super easy and all you need are the following tools:



With somewhat guarded enthusiasm, I went out into the yard to plant my bulbs, thinking of the beautiful double blossoms that would greet me next Spring.  Alas, that enthusiasm soon came to a screeching halt, when I was confronted with reality: we have clay soil and seem to have dug our garden on top of a rock quarry.  In actual fact, I ended up using the following tools to dig 5 inch deep holes:

At least the bulbs are in ...  Uh, an embarrassing thought just hit me - I hope I put them in right side up!  I guess I'll find out, in 6 months.

Anyway, so that this post is somewhat useful,
let me give you some bulb planting tips:


1. Spring flowering bulbs have to go in the ground before the ground freezes


2. Plant the bulbs in a sunny location


3.  Use a trowel or bulb planting tool
(unless of course those are ridiculously inefficient,
in which case you might consider renting a jack-hammer)


4.  Plant the bulbs root side down, pointed side up
(this may seem a no-brainer, but let's not judge people who may not know this)


5.  Cover the bulb with dirt and wait for Spring.