Bulb planting weekend – Part II

I planted all 969 bulbs!! I’m exhausted! And I hurt myself – I have a big gash on my ankle from a clumsy fall. I hope its worth it. I’ll be gutted if I don’t have a garden full of flowers come spring. Right now I look and feel like this …

Bulbs planted this weekend:

In the Bed under the Office Window (under and in between the Nandina’s):
At the back – Leucojum aestivum – 20
In front of them – Muscari – dainty white – 20

In the “Camellia bed”:
Alliums – 100 (I ordered 50, they gave me an extra 50 for free = 100)
Narcissus cantabricus – 4 (in “compots”, so I can move and plant later)

In the Front Garden “Gardenia bed”:
Sparaxis – 35 (planted in the sunniest corner away from the Gardenias)

In the “Rose Bed”:
Ranunculus white – 70
Ranunculus pink – 35
Ornithogalum white – 35

Back garden bed under the Birch Tree:
Dutch Iris pale blue and white – 75

Back garden bed at the front of the border:
Tritonias – 35

Back Garden Bed under the Pepper Tree area:
Freesias – 235

Outside the property, on the verge:
Anemones – 100(might get more – only a small part of the verge covered)

In various containers and pots:
Narcissus mixed – 75
Rare indigeneous bulbs – 46
Ixias – 35

Tulips – 48 – STILL TO DO! Have the container but ran out of potting soil … need to go and get one more bag of potting soil – yikes, we know how that turns out 🙂

The Dream …

[one_half]This is what I am hoping for …[/one_half]

[one_half_last]and dreaming of …[/one_half_last]

The Verdict:
With the bulb planting tool thingy it was actually very EASY! My soil is wonderfully friable, the bulb tool thingy (Dibber) went in easily creating the holes for bulbs that went straight into the soil and I was able to do many bulbs per minute! Make the holes, pop the bulbs in and cover. Easy! What a pleasure that was! What did take time was the containers. I had a plan I wanted to follow (that I had seen in a book) and it just didn’t work out for me, so in the end I just planted the bulbs in the containers the way I felt like doing it, changed my mind a few times and … well they are all planted somewhere now!

What did NOT work well:
The bulbs that went into the bulb baskets took a little longer and I feel they are a waste. I bought them to protect the bulbs from the mole rates – but the two solar mole repeller are doing their thing – they emit a buzzing sound every few seconds so hopefully the mole rats stay away. So far there are no new mole hills, so it might actually be working. I only used five of the trays in the end because I found it so much easier using the dibber. I have lots going spare now, I hope I can find some use for them. I might use them for the Tulips seeing as those bulbs need to be lifted and thrown out (so the books tell me – why not just leave them in the soil to rot and turn to compost I wonder?).

Finito!!