Comments on: are you planting bulbs this fall?

By: shelterrific » Blog Archive » what’s blooming in your garden?

shelterrific » Blog Archive » what’s blooming in your garden? — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 15:00:19 +0000

[...] fall, for the first time ever, I planted bulbs: a handful of daffodils and a few alliums. Though one of my motivations was to give our bees some early spring eats — and now, sniff, [...]

By: shelterrific » Blog Archive » adventures in beekeeping: a sad spring

shelterrific » Blog Archive » adventures in beekeeping: a sad spring — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 14:11:00 +0000

[...] unable to dig into their reserve stock in the layer above. It’s so sad, especially now as the first bulbs we planted are starting to sprout. One theory on our failure is that we had tried to start our hives with [...]

By: shelterrific » Blog Archive » five things we learned last week

shelterrific » Blog Archive » five things we learned last week — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 13:03:24 +0000

[...] a photographer) and refers to that when adding more in Fall. Smart!” Read more great fall planting tips [...]

By: lynne

lynne — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 22:40:21 +0000

bulbs are one of my favorite things about gardening, because I can usually pull it together to dig some holes in the fall, and I always feel rewarded by the blooms in the spring. This year I planted about 100 bulbs (but 60 of them are grape hyacinths,my favorite, and so easy–)
and then three weeks ago, as I was cleaning up I found 3 pots of bulbs I had received as flowers for easter or mother’s day, and they were coming up, so I brought them inside to see what happens. I’ve read they won’t bloom, but we’ll see. Lots of green so far.

By: Kristi

Kristi — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 03:00:39 +0000

I do both, I am already forcing paper whites indoors. I tried forcing hyacinth and tulips last year without any luck. The paper whites are so easy. But I always plant a mix of bulbs. Last year I planted hyacinth, dutch iris, tulips, crocus, daffodils, paper whites, and freesia. All of them appeared dutifully in the spring but the crocus were a big attraction for squirrels. So if you have squirrels in your area then avoid planting crocus bulbs.

By: Tiffany S.

Tiffany S. — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:37:37 +0000

I use a bulb planter but I think my front beds are pretty full and can’t take anymore.

I did order a mixed bath of 100 before and was completely overwhelmed. My sweet husband spent an afternoon planting them for me, and we were rewarded by an oasis of daffodils come spring!

Then he said I wasn’t allowed to order more than I could plant! :)

By: Daffodil

Daffodil — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 22:28:04 +0000

I LOVE daffodils (well, uh, obviously) and tulips and I plant them every fall. I really like the photograph trick from Julie’s neighbor — that’s smart!

I live in Kansas, and I’ve never quite dug the holes deep enough. I’m too impatient to dig, dig, dig. But my daffodils and tulips pop up regardless! Can’t speak to their durability, though. We keep moving. Maybe in a few years, if we stay put…

By: Jamie

Jamie — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 21:03:24 +0000

Indoors! I’m going to plant mine this weekend. I love paperwhites!

By: Sue from Albany

Sue from Albany — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 17:22:58 +0000

I have tried bulbs for several years now, but I have a yard in the city so I fight a yearly battle with the squirrels- and the squirrels always win. Any tips to prevent the decimation of my garden?

By: Ayse

Ayse — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:21:48 +0000

I plant bulbs every year. I try to concentrate on bulbs that will come back, like species tulips and other kinds of bulbs that don’t require chilling (we’re in California), but I also plant lots of tulips in pots as annuals. I love tulips. And planting them in pots is so much easier than planting them in the ground, especially since they rarely last beyond a couple of years under the best conditions (and California is not the best condition).

The key for me is trying not to buy too many bulbs. If I buy them in smaller batches every year, I have time to see how well they work in the garden and mark out areas on a garden plan for planting the next year, and also it’s not quite so much digging. And spreading the cost out is good, too.

Small batches also gets me out of digging three hundred little holes all over the place: it’s easier to either dig thirty holes every year for ten years, or if I’m feeling really needy of a big swatch of bulb colour, to just trench out a big area, lay the bulbs out, and re-cover it. Given that I’m already at the point where I need to start thinning some bulbs out, which means even more digging, fewer new bulbs is much better.