Just in case you missed our past posts on planting bulbs, here is a little more information on what to do and what to consider when planting bulbs for Spring:
First of all, consider where in your garden are you planning to plant? Since these bulbs will be flowering before the trees are in leaf, you’ll likely have a sunny location. How large is the area? Spring flowers generally look best when planted in clumps. You can mix colour or keep it uniform. When selecting bulbs, you’ll want to choose healthy and large size bulbs. As a rule of thumb, the larger the bulb (considering its type), the better the flower in the Spring.
Position bulbs pointed end up, the pointed end is their stem. If a pointed end is not obvious, then don’t worry about it, just plant the bulb and the stem will naturally find its own way up. The planting hole should be three times deeper than the height of the bulb. For example, if you have a 6.5-centimetre daffodil bulb, then dig your hole 20 centimetres deep and then plant. You may wish to mix some bone meal with the soil, but if you’re starting with good soil already, it shouldn’t be necessary – just an option to encourage root growth.
Daffodils
Daffodils, spring flowering bulbs, planted in late fall.
To prevent the squirrels stealing your newly planted bulbs try outsmarting them by concentrating your bulb plantings in large groups, and then flooding the soil with water after you’ve planted them. This will help to “erase” the marks you leave behind when planting and will also help to close any air pockets you created in planting. To further disguise the bulb locations, you should cover them with approximately five centimetres of leaves and branches. Some avid gardeners suggest that you plant heavy with the daffodils because squirrels don’t tend to like them as much – not sure if this is true or not, but since they are on sale 50% off here at Jade Gardens anyway, maybe its worth a try!
Finally, don’t forget to mark where you’ve planted so that you don’t forget where you’ve already planted. Then you can sit back and be ready to enjoy the fruits of your labour, come spring.