Bulb Planting Time

I admit it:  I'm not the most ambitious gardener.  I love the look and smell of a beautifully planted and tended flower bed, but I'm less keen on actually doing the work it takes to get it that way.  I always start out with pretty high goals in the Spring, but it tends to taper off as the season progresses.

Now it's Fall and I'm enjoying the beautiful trees and the crisp air and the fresh apples, etc, etc, etc.  Planting just doesn't grab my attention right now!

However, I'm always really irritated every Spring when I see the beautiful tulips and daffodils in the gardens of my neighbors -- and I have almost nothing.  Several years ago I did plant some tulip bulbs, and some miniature daffodils, and some hyacinth but the squirrels have dug up most of what was there.  When the few remaining flowers do appear, the rabbits eat them almost immediately.  It's very depressing!



Not one to give up, however, I purchased a bunch of bulbs and I've actually started putting them in the ground.  Huge allium 'gladiator' (the ones with the huge purple/pink heads), reblooming Iris (so they say), and narcissus 'Tahiti' went into the ground today.  I love the gadget that I bought for drilling holes in the ground; saves so much strain on my back and knees.  You just fit it into a drill and start making holes!  Today I was using a cordless drill so I wouldn't have to drag the cord all over the place, but the batteries run down pretty quickly with trying to dig in the clay soil that we have.  It has been raining for the past several days so the clay is compacted besides.  However, I managed to get 22 bulbs into the ground before losing power.

I have roughly 50 more daffodil bulbs to plant, and I decided to plant more tulips but I'm getting smarter and intend to plant them in one of my large outdoor planters.  With luck, they'll survive the winter and I'll have a pot of lovely tulips in the Spring that will be out of reach of the mangy critters.