Flower Bulbs

A few weekends ago we finished planting the last of the daffodil and tulip bulbs. We now have an overenthusiastic 5 rows of them. They will flower some time around March I expect.


To plant the bulbs we dug a trench around 6 inches deep and the same wide. We scattered some compost at the bottom, Then lined the bulbs along around 2-3 inches apart. This is much closer than you need to plant, but we had hundreds and hundreds of the fellas, so threw them all in. I hope it will make a nice thick line of flowers as opposed to suffocating eachother. Then we put in a little more compost, then covered them all over again with the sods we had dug up. We broke through the sods with our fingers and tried to remove all the weeds we could find, but I think bulbs are pretty hardy and don't fear competing with surrounding growth so they should be fine.

This is what it looks like in the trench with all the bulbs.


I spent a few days as a daffodil picker when I was a kid, and am looking forward to getting massive bunches to give to friends. To pick daffodils, you get a piece of wood around the size of a ruler, thicker at one end and narrower at the other. You line the ruler along the daffodil with the thick end at the bulb and the thin end at the base of the stem, squeeze your thumb into the thin end, and snap the stem away from the base. This leaves you with a daffodil the same length as the stick. If the end is frayed it will not last so long so try to get a clean cut. Choose bulbs that look like they are just about to open - they will keep for longer and open in a vase no problem. A bunch of around 10 to 15 is perfect for a table indoors.