Hello,

I am starting with a largish section of garden/yard (approx 45ftx20ft) I have cleared and where I have planted 3 apple trees. I am planning to plant grass under the tress as recommended by many orchard folks. About half the plot has good sun -especially in spring- and about 1/2 has only part sun. In early spring the area gets much more sun due to when the trees leaf out and our very low sun angle.
I do not expect to be doing a lot of fertilizing of the lawn -and have good P and K values

I had the idea that it would be nice to naturalize some bulbs in this area. I am short of garden color and am thinking this is an easy way to get some. Up here in Minnesota, spring comes late and I can't think of better way to improve my trip up the driveway than with a massive planting of early spring bulbs.

So my dilemma, is what to plant and how/when.

I had thought that I would plant the bulbs then put down grass seed to get it going this fall. I am concerned that Mid/late October is too late to get grass going in my climate. I would really live to put the bulbs in first since the soil is well tilled and planting will be easy. If I can get the bulbs in now (need to order them first) and it stays warm will I still be ok?

I am also a big stymied as to what to plant. Since I will want to mow, I want something that comes up early - and can be mowed early. From what I understand, that kind of leaves me with crocus. I love crocus, but think I would also like taller plants as well. If I plant something like narcissus I am worried that I will be looking at dying off leaves for longer than I want.

Any and all thoughts and suggestions are appreciated

This post was edited by timmytwo on Sat, Sep 21, 13 at 12:04