Planting Bulbs

It's bulb planting time again.  I did a detailed post about this back in 2023.  This year I planted all of the Daffodils bulbs that I dug up in early summer.  They were either in an inconvenient place, or the clump had gotten too dense and needed to be divided.  One batch was a double Daffodil that I got from TulipWorld.com and it didn't turn out to be what I ordered.  They stand behind their products, so they gave me a gift card in the amount of the mislabeled bulbs.  I used that to buy some Squill and more Snowdrops to add to my existing plantings.

I had planned to add these some time ago and I took photos of the bed in the spring so I would know where I wanted to add the bulbs and where there were already bulbs that I did not want to disturb.

Its so easy to forget where bulbs already are and how many you really need, so photos are important.

Lately I have seen a lot of digging in my landscape beds.  The squirrels are burying Hickory nuts, but they aren't the culprits.  Either a Opossum or Raccoon is sniffing around and finding Daffodil bulbs and digging around those then (of course) not eating anything, just leaving a mess.  Since I use fertilizer, and because freshly turned soil is also an invitation to snooping, I made sure to sprinkle granular Repels All over all of the disturbed soil.  When I've planted more expensive bulbs in years past I have even pinned hardware cloth over the area to really lock them out.  So far nothing has dug up the new plantings.

And today I started the long chore of lifting, cleaning, dividing and storing my Dahlia tubers.  It is way too big a job to do all at once.  I divide and trim them in the fall instead of the spring because otherwise I end up with way too much volume to store. Today I dug the Figaro Dahlias that I started from seed, one of my border height varieties (Binky), and then one of my easiest to replace varieties, Brown Sugar.  This gets me back in practice before I start on the ones that are really important to me.  I have at least two more afternoons to spend on them.  I limit myself to two or three hours at a time so I don't get tired and start taking shortcuts.  Plus I sort of enjoy it.  Tonight we have a frost advisory for the fourth time.  The Dahlias are shutting down but still look really goo.

April Showers

The weather has been pretty cool and wet.  There have been some breaks of sunshine now and then but after you figure out that they do not last long enough for you to get outfitted and go outside, you realize that they may be best enjoyed through a window.  But every day I go out and do a garden patrol.  This is the time of year when the rabbits decide that the thyme under the apple trees would make a lovely location for a nest.  And I agree, it would be lovely.  But the itty-bitties are trouble enough when they are under foot in the lawn.  I sure don't need them based under the apple tree.  Usually just smoothing back the mulch and sprinkling some repellent granules around is enough to do the trick but this year they are busy enough that I have had to plug the hole with a big ol' rock.

The daffodils are beginning to bloom.  The little tete-a-tete daffs are the first.

The larger ones are not far behind.

The hardy primroses are still a little rough from being buried under snow for months but they are beginning to bloom.

I have been thinking of adding some bulbs to this corner by the deck steps.  I have to keep track of where things are planted.  This will come in handy in the fall when I can either plant accordingly or talk myself out of it completely.  The Winter Aconite should be showing up and blooming at the feet of the snow drops but they aren't.  I need to add some more this fall.

Oh look... the Hyacinths are coming up nice.

Last week I  planted some bareroot Seascape strawberries.  They are already greening up.

The elderberry bushes are leafing out.

I finally finished pruning on the apple trees.  I took a lot out of this one but it is still a very full tree.

Below are the broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage plants.  They will be ready to set out in three weeks.  i am pleased with how compact they are staying under the new LED light set up.

And the micro tomatoes and ornamental peppers.  Such tiny little guys.

Yesterday I seeded the indeterminate tomatoes. 

Daffodills

 The only downside to having a beautiful spring garden full of daffodils is the shaggy phase while you are waiting for the foliage to die back.  With all spring bulbs, the longer you leave the foliage the better chance you have of having abundant blooms the following spring.  You can do clever things like braiding or knotting the foliage to make it look tidy but that takes time too.  If you leave them until they are completely dead then it is so much easier to pull them out.  When they are in their bed-head stage they don't pull and they don't cut well either.  Later blooming varieties stay green longer into the summer.

I leave them as long as I can stand them.  These are not the last of them.  I started cutting a week or so ago and I am half done.  Cleaning them out transforms a bed from a rambling mess to neat and tidy.  It can also make things look a bit bare.  This would be the time to add annuals to the empty spaces, and many years I do.  But this year they are just going to have to stay with the clean and tidy look.

As I was crawling around my tomato beds yesterday transplanting Nasturtiums, I finally found the first large tomato to set.  This is on one of the dwarf plants.  I am really loving the idea of the dwarf varieties because I can start them indoors so much earlier than indeterminate varieties knowing they will not be as tall and hard to handle when the weather allows me to set them out.  And that means earlier tomatoes!

Underway

 

The peas are up.

I got good germination on most of the lettuce.  I seeded from three or four mixed packets.

The strawberries are blooming.

The tulips are at their peak.

Tulips

 I have had a few tulips in the landscape over the years.  Tulips are so beautiful and easy to care for, but they are number one on the deer snack list.  If you have deer anywhere near your garden there is just no way you are ever going to see a tulip bloom.  Buds - yes.  But those long awaited buds will be eaten the night before they open up. Almost every time. Therefore they must either go in containers that can be kept behind a fence until they bloom or in the vegetable garden which is sufficiently protected.    

Back in 2021 I planted a bed of tulips.  They turned out absolutely gorgeous, but I did not indulge myself last fall, so no pretty blooms this spring.  I was still a little burned out last fall when Tulip Ordering Season rolled around so I just skipped it.  But in the spring I really missed having them.  Fall planted bulbs, and tulips in particular, are one of those things that you really have to plan ahead for.  You can plant daffodils and crocus and snow drops and almost every other bulb you can think of and they will naturalize and come back year after year and spread and give you a great return.  But most varieties of tulips do not come back reliably. I may get 30% returning each spring on a downward spiral until there are no more left at all.  And they are just too wonderful to do without.

Chardonnay Blend

I think all colors of tulips are lovely, but around the vegetable garden area I always stick to a hot color pallet of red, orange and yellow.  The Chardonnay blend above caught my eye a couple of years ago.  Colorblends only sells them in batches of 500, and I only want to deal with 150-200 bulbs.  So I went with a smaller amount of a similar blend...

Celebration Blend

... and added a white variety.  Now this may not work out perfectly.  The bloom times might not sync up as well as what Colorblends would have put together, but we'll give it a try because that was what was available.

Maureen

I also LOVE double (peony style) tulips.  So I am trying these.

Moris Gudanov

I had a little more room left, so I caved in and ordered a few of the my favorite from last year.

Double Late Gudoshnik

So the tulip bulbs are planted in a raised bed with Tulip Tone and in the spring when everything else is dull and bare, we can look forward to a bright and cheery bed full of vibrant color.  And then I will be happy that I put in the planning and effort.

Bulb Planting

 Yesterday I got some happy mail!  Just a few fall bulbs to plant.  I already have a scant few Hyacinths which have never done that much.  So I am going to try again in a different spot.  I love Hyacinths.

Dutch Vintage The Sky is Blue

Hyacinth Pink Pearl

Dutch Vintage Bubble Blend Allium

I have never tried Alliums before.  I added a small allium to my spring garden this year, but I have a spot which I thought would look really nice with the big alliums.  I have a new worry with fall bulbs.  I have some sort of critter rooting around in my bulbs.  It could possibly be a squirrel, chipmunk, raccoon or skunk.  Or maybe something I haven't even thought of.  Our squirrel population is pretty low right now.  Chipmunks tend to drill holes.  Raccoons usually taste whatever they dig up.  Therefore I think it is the skunk.

Whatever it is just sort of uncovers the bulbs and maybe disrupts them, but doesn't seem to eat them.  That doesn't really worry me with my older bulbs.  I just cover them back up.  But if I am paying for brand new bulbs I really don't want them disturbed.

Once I find my spot, I brush the mulch away for later, and sort out how many go in each spot.

I only have the short, starter version Power Planter Auger for my existing drill, but man does it make a difference in my life.  It makes short work of hard packed soil.

Bulbs should be covered with twice as much soil as their own height. I also add Bulb-Tone to the planting hole.

Now because I am worried about these being dug up I used squares of hardware cloth to cover them.  I pinned them down hard with landscape staples (I left these high so you can see them.)  The staples are in the undisturbed hardpack soil so they aren't coming out easy.

I covered two of the hyacinth groupings with the wire cloches.  This is sort of a comparison,  I think the cloches would offer a little more protection.  We'll see.  I do not intend to leave the wire squares in the spring, but in the event I do, the one inch squares would allow the plant to push up through without much trouble.

The large blue alliums went on either side of the Southern Charm Verbascum.  

Also tucked in well with hardware cloth pinned down firmly.

In my comings and goings I noticed another of my garden helpers.  He (or she?) was hopping furiously across from the pachysandra towards home.  I got right in front of him to slow him down for a moment.

"Will I have to go over you or through you?"

A minute later he was burrowing into his home under the old stump behind the Heuchera.

Maintenance Day

It was time to thin the carrots again.  I am having great luck with them this year thanks to diligently watering them every day this spring.  It isn't as easy to thin carrots in a container as it is in a row.  In a row you can just run a rake across them.  In a pot you have to set yourself down on a stool and work at it.  They all look a little disheveled afterwards, like they just got up and need to fix their hair.

I opened up the cole crop bed for the first time in weeks to pull a few weeds and break off some lower leaves that were yellowing,

The Golden Acre cabbage is starting to form heads but the other is not yet.

The peas ought to be blooming tomorrow.

I planted almost all of the rest of my hundred marigolds.  In some spots the daffodils are getting in the way.  The trouble with daffs is that if you cut them down you lose your stored energy for blooms next year.  You have to wait for the leaves to yellow and die on their own.  But you also don't want them laying around getting in the way.  You can tie them up so the leaves can still do their photosynthesis thing.  You would think they might object to this treatment but they don't,

They just look a little weird.  

The same hairstyle as Nori the Dwarf

My peonies began to bloom last evening.

 

Tulips are Poppin'

 They have been ready to go for a couple of days but had the good sense to wait for a sunny day.

These are Gudoshnik doubles

I think I need more of these next year.  

They don't need as much room as I gave them so I can fit about twice as many.

A Totally Average Day

 Finally the temperatures are back to "normal".  It was cold and snowy all day yesterday, never getting out of the 30s. But this morning dawned bright and clear and the temps have been in the mid-40s which is average for our April.  For a change I didn't have to worry about anything being too hot or too cold.  Everything was just as it should be.

It always amazes me when I plant cole crops out in cold, crappy weather and the next day they are standing up green and eager to grow.  I can tell these have all rooted in well and are already beginning to put on some new growth.

The peas were a little flat after that heavy snow and the second lettuce seeding is still being a bit careful but no harm done. The last row of peas goes in tomorrow. The carrots are looking awesome.

Nantes Half Long Carrots

I potted up my Caladium and Begonia tubers today.

This is my first time for these and they look great.  They are all big, healthy tubers and starting to show growth at the eyes.  I'm looking forward to seeing how these turn out.  They are destined for containers which normally have store-bought annuals in them, and I can store them over the winter for next season.

They look like big hairy donuts.
The sprouts are pink and the white stuff is the shavings they were packed in

I transplanted four varieties of Marigolds, two dozen each of Fireball, Strawberry Blonde, Durango Outback Mix and Snowball.  Marigolds are my favorite fill in annual so I always like to have a bunch ready to go.  You can buy a packet of 50 seeds for little more than a 6 pack of plants cost.  This is the first time I've grown them from seed and I was amazed at how quickly they germinated and grew.  If they are this easy then its a no-brainer.

Soon the Tulips will be in bloom