Phew... just finished MOMENTS AGO!!

For me this year it was:

500 daffodils
150 crocuses
100 tulips (I planted 30 in pots to try my hand at overwintering in my garage)

May not sound like a ton but all were planted in homemade wire cages or in beds lined (top, bottom & sides) with wire. I have soooo many pests that would love to GOBBLE them up. (except daffs I know)

So it was very time consuming!

If I catch some hyacinths on clearance I may get some of them too..... I'll keep my eye out at Sams Club! :D

Jodie

I'm almost done. I have 100 more tulip bulbs to plant and about 25 more daffodils. I planted more bulbs this year than I've ever planted before. I've been working on them for a solid 2 weeks or so, because I've been amending our heavy clay soil for every bulb. I don't even want to think about how many bags of topsoil and cow manure I've purchased this year. :)

So far I've planted 300 tulips, 250 daffodils, 25 Hyacinths, 100 Spanish Bluebells, 100 Crocuses, 25 Alliums and 5 Lilies.

What!? I innocently open this thread, to find my name ? Well! Humph! Do you think I am THAT predictable? (IâÂÂll show HERâ¦she says)⦠I bought only a modest quantity this year, IâÂÂll have you know, and am only a short way into planting the bag (s). Halloween took precedence, and tomorrow I resume planting.

So far I have planted 24 Couleur Cardinal tulips (a luscious color if I ever saw one: I bought them last fall too), and 8 Pink Something-or-other hyacinths. I have 100 species crocus, 10 each Tete a Tete and White Cheerfulness daffodils. ThatâÂÂs it! Oh, and a few lilies, like 12 or 15 (or maybe it was 20); from my Lily Society fall sale, at which I WORKED, IâÂÂll have you know, and refrained from snapping up all the choicest varieties. I waited a whole 15 minutes (or maybe it was 10) into my 4 hour shift before choosing the ones I wanted to buy for myself. Admirable restraint, in MY opinion.... I was afraid of stimulating a rush on the table and causing a riot, so I held back. The local daffodil society sale table was right next to ours, but no: I did not run over there. I will admit to craning my neck a bit to see what was moving fastest, after all, it is a point of natural horticultural curiosity to see what is popular one year as opposed to the next. But no, I did not buy. I confess to running my hands through the âÂÂDaffodils by the Handfulâ buckets, only a few times, passing to the restroom and back, but no, I did not buy. If I squeezed a few, well, I felt I should ascertain whether their quality standards were up to the Lily SocietyâÂÂs. If they had had any poeticus types: well, then, I might have been tempted. But they did not, so I did not enrich their coffers.

LAST year was different. Last year my brother-in-law was staying with us for a few months, and I needed to teach him about gardening. He took great interest in my garden, and said he wanted to start one himself when he went home. He did not know how to plant things, and it took a lot of practice before he had it down. Luckily bulbs went on clearance while he was here, so teaching him did not cost me too much money. By the time he went home, I was confident he knew what to do.

Nothing is on clearance yet....not that that matters, because I donâÂÂt need anything.

My garden is modest since I'm old and don't bend as well as I used to. But I did get some tulips, daffodils and crocuses to plant in my foundation and sidewalk beds.

The cat has done well at keeping most of the pests away this year so I'm hoping for the best next year.

I have not even started. I will not be planting as much this year. I am taking vacation from work Thanksgiving week and hope to have a marathon planting session. Linnea56 you are so fortunate to have the Lily Society and the Daffodil Society sales at the same time. Mine were the same weekend - one on Saturday the other on Sunday. Both were a nearly 2 hour drive away. I stopped by the Mum society show while I was in the metropolitian area.

My cat brought me 4 dead moles yesterday. I praised her to the hilt. She is such a great hunter.

Kathy

Wow, Kathy! They should coordinate better! IâÂÂm a member of the Lily Society, but not an officer, so IâÂÂm assuming the officers of both clubs all do that. Ours is also in conjunction with an orchard club that has a fall apple sale: itâÂÂs THAT that really draws the crowds, and the clubs selling bulbs benefit from the traffic.

IâÂÂm about half an hour awayâ¦but the host place is making things difficult for our club (not wanting us to put up any signage advertising the sale, not wanting to list it in their online or paper newsletter), so we may have to go elsewhere next year!

I can't even start planting my 220 tulips and hyacinths until late December, after they've had their winter chill in the refrigerator. My St. Keverne daffodils and South African bulbs are planted.
Ruth

I started planting last week with the daffodils I had dug last spring. Grand Primo, Campernelle, Gigantic Star, and Avalanche. Added new: Maximus and Trevithian.

Yesterday, I planted more new ones in the rain: Tulipa clusiana, Sternbergia lutea, Sundial, and Jetfire. Plus Avalanche and more Campernelle.

All told, I guess I have planted about 300 or so, will probably plant another 100 to 150. I'm proud to be so much ahead of schedule this year!

Hopefully, by the week-end, the ground will be dry enough and I will finish with my late jonquils: Tripartite and a white one. Oh yeah, and a bunch of Ice Follies.

I put two hundred Prinses Irene tulips in the refrigerator yesterday. Those will be planted out after Christmas, which, by the way, doesn't seem very far off at all!

Congratulations jodie74 on a job well done. Those cages had to be a lot of extra work.

luvahydrangea, Good for you for planting more than ever before and for amending the soil so well.

I confess to running my hands through the âÂÂDaffodils by the Handfulâ buckets, only a few times,
Linnea, do you recall what they were charging by the handful?
I'm counting on you to be all finished early again this year.

tkhooper, Good for you adding more bulbs even though your garden is modest...It is going to be beautiful.

socalgal, Lucky you to have such an extended planting season.

donnabaskets, Boy you are moving right along, considering your zone.

Well, I still have not planted anything yet. I checked my planting records from 2009 and see I did all my planting from Nov 6th until Dec 4th, so I'm not running any later than what I was last year...sigh...which really was quite late there at the end.

Had best get busy

Sue

Sue, the price was dependent on group. I think they were a dollar a handful for some types, and 50 cents for others. It was the first time they had separated the buckets...but I don't recall what the distinctions were.

Jodie, What type of wire do you use? I tried some landscaping cloth but it was so hard to work with so I gave up. I did buy some poulty grit thats nonsoluble and sprinkled it fairly good around all my bulbs so far and hope it helps keep out the voles. Someone on the hosta forum said they use it and it has worked great but I am still interested in your wire. I hit the Van Engelen (sp) sale yesterday and ordered waaaay to many to go with the waaaaay to many I already had ordered so I hope the weather turns pretty next week so I can get the rest of them in the ground. Judy

Well, so much for being almost done. I couldn't resist the Van Engelen sale and ended up ordering 400 more bulbs today and 3 peonies. I can't believe they shipped already too! Woot!

Peonies? Did someone say peonies? So where is this Van Engelen Sale?

prettypetals- I bought a 10' roll of the wire from Lowes for around $10. 1/2" wire-not plastic! (from what I've read the rodents will just eat through the plastic) It is kinda hard to work with. I HAVE TO WEAR GLOVES! My husband has some GREAT wire cutters so that helps but it's not an easy task. But I figure I only have to do it once & I should hopefully see the results on my hard labor for years to come! :D

I did pick up some hyacinths at Sams on clearance yesterday. 40 bulbs cost me $14.40!! Oh, I got some blue & pink iris on clearance too!! I think I'm gonna go get more tomorrow!! My Sams had TONS left!!

I have a kitty but she's indoors only (no claws & we live near a well traveled road) I wish I could let her HUNT me some MOLES/VOLES!! LOL

Jodie

I just ordered 500 or so bulbs from Van Engelen, so am not even close to being finished! But since I did not even claim to be âÂÂdoneâ yet, Sue canâÂÂt jump on me for any excessive gloating. I had about 100 left before this order: mostly crocus. Since I will plant many of the new ones in the same holes as the crocuses (scilla, mini tulips, mini daffs), it makes sense to wait now for those to come in.

Bumping this up.........

Well, after the recent great sales, who is planting again?

Who is 'still' planting?

Who has finished?

I'm still planting and far from finished, though very 'optimistically' I hope to be finished by Wed eve, the day before Thanksgiving...just in time to maybe get a few from Brent and Becky's Sale, providing they have one as usual.

Sue

Wow, I can't believe my previous post was less than one month ago. I have to say, I went on a bit of a shopping frenzy when the sales started popping up. I was putting all the bulbs I got into a spreadsheet last night and I have planted a total of 1395 bulbs this fall. My husband thinks I'm a lunatic, but I had no bulbs in the ground last spring, so its like I was starting a brand new garden. I won't be ordering that much next year. I have to say, I really enjoyed planting them. I'll be finishing up the last of them tomorrow. I'm also forcing some bulbs this year, I didn't count those. :)

I just finished planting the last of around 1500 bulbs purchased this year. Honestly, it's embarrassing--I ordered from Van Engelen 4 times! Most years I manage to slash my wish list to 300-400 bulbs, but this is the first year I've gotten in on their 40% off sale, and I went a little nuts. I did give several hundred bulbs to various friends, so probably only put 1200 in the ground myself, and that counts the 100 or so oriental and asiatic lilies I put in this spring and summer.

I also have a new garden area that is now enclosed by an 8 foot high deer fence that I put up this spring, previously naturalized pasture with some trees. The new area is around 95 x 115 feet, so even after putting in half a dozen shrubs and moving around 50 hostas from the older gardens this spring, I've basically got a lot of space available to play with. I fenced my original hosta gardens at the same time, so I can finally have tulips in that space. I can hardly wait for spring!

You donâÂÂt know how happy it makes me to see people planting quantities into the thousands! It makes me feel, oh, so â¦so normal by contrast. I probably did 600-700 so far this year. I did not count. It scares me when I count, so I don't.

I have only about 35 daffodils left, and maybe 30 lilies. Tomorrow will be warm, and it is MY day! Oh, wait, I forgot those mini alliums...and the left over mystery tulips I dug earlier this fall. So, 80 left or so.

I'm still planting and it is the perfect day for it, and unfortunately probably the last really pretty warm day. It's 69 out with a nice breeze. More rain is expected then the next few days and the temps will drop and be more normal for this time of the year.

I'm heading back out now. I know I'll never finish them today, but hope to make a good 'dent' in them.

Sue

Oh you all make me feel so much better with my madness!!! I seem to go overboard with everything and all these bulbs still waiting to get into the dirt are no exception. I too have ordered several times from VE and hope to not go crazy next year. I didn't have many bulbs until now so I went wiiiiiiiild ordering. I hope to finish this Wednesday too so I can start decorating for Christmas after Thanksgiving. I am one of those that doesn't want to count either but I know I am well over a thousand and do have the aching body that goes along with planing all those babies. Can't wait to see everyones pics next spring. It ought to be glorious!!!!!! Judy

I have not planted the first bulb this year. It has been perfect bulb planting weather, but my back has not cooperated. I finally got my bulbs organized so now that I am better I can plant efficiently. I am only planting about 300 this year so I should be able to finish before the ground freezes.

Paddlehike...hope you got some planting done and can finish up without a back flare-up.

To those of you who are either in a frenzy now, or end up in a frenzy later with numerous unplanted bulbs, I thought I'd share some planting instructions. I sent numerous NO ID daffs to some friends so I advised how to handle them, if they get really short on time, energy, and if the ground happens to freeze up.

1--they can be planted with care in individual holes, with or without the soil amended..
2--they can be planted with numerous ones in a bigger hole, allowing some space between the bulbs, with or without the soil amended.
3--they can be planted in a shallow trench, with space between bulbs, with soil and then mulch mounded over them.
4--they can stick a spade in the ground, and wiggle it, and drop a few bulbs in the crack and then mash it shut with their foot.
5--they can dig a bigger hole, throw in lots of bulbs, cover and vow to dig and replant them better in 2011...dig 6 weeks after normal bloom time, dry and then replant in the fall (Oct or later)
6--they can throw the remaining bulbs in a pile ON the ground and then dump some dirt or mulch, or both (bought or otherwise) on them and call it done and then deal with them next spring about 6 weeks after bloom time. ...see #5 for digging, drying, storing and then replanting.

#5 and #6 would however not be very good choices if they were named varieties and one didn't want to risk getting them mixed up.

It's cold and sprinkling here...another bulb planting day SHOT!

Sue

I went with #3

But in my defense it was a 'deep' trench, not shallow, and I added plenty of compost, so the bulbs (various named daffs) should be well set for a year or two at least. At the time it was snowing pretty good but I guess that's better than rain, since I wouldn't have done it in the rain....

As a reward for finishing up planting I had a second slice of pie and then ordered more bulbs via the brent and becky sale.

Well, I *was* done, but my addiction, and love of mysteries, gave in to the HollandBulbFarms variety closeout box sale. I now have 250+ more bulbs to plant or pot up.

I only have enough clean dirt for a few pots to go in the mini fridge. Some of the nicer things I'd like to keep, so I will try to sneak out of the house this weekend when it is "warmer" to plant them in the garden (Saturday, high 27ð F, Sunday, 36ð). I am hoping the ground is not frozen. It was still fine last Sunday when I finished the first time. The remaining things I'll probably come back here to offer for advanced exchange to some of you lucky z5+ folks. I am so jealous that you all have ages left to plant.

Since I should be able to finish planting the ones I already have this afternoon, I took advantage of the sale at Brent and Becky's and ordered 150 more.

I love my new bulb auger!!!! This is the third one I have tried (the first one I purchased) and it is by far the best! I got the one with the cutting edge.

Kathy

Here is a link that might be useful: The Garden Auger

If anyone is interested, I did post my list of remaining bulbs, mostly tulips, in hopes of doing a Fall for Spring trade.

Thanks!

Here is a link that might be useful: Advanced Exchange

Such a wonderful feeling to be DONE and hearing the rain falling to help settle them into the ground.

Kathy

Hmmm. Well, VanZyverdens (they supply retailers all over the country) here in Meridian had their final clearanace sale all through the month of November. I went the first day and promptly took home 2 or 3 hundred and planted them. THEN a friend of mind called me to accompany her to the final day of the sale (last week) to "help" her. Came home with MORE. Naturally, it has rained everyday since. No matter. I put the tulips in the refrigerator and the narcisus are out in the garage. We had a killing frost the day after Thanksgiving, so as soon as it dries out, I'll "roll up" the last of the lantanas, cupheas, and hyacinth beans. That will make room for the new additions. I'm going to be out putting up Christmas decorations anyway...:)

By the way, get a load of this. At the sale, I bought 100 Spring Green tulips, and 15 dozen named jonquils for $26!!!! Of course, this is why my addiction is so out of control...

Not done! :(

I hope to get out to my unheated garage this eve & get my last 200 or so bulbs planted in pots. Gonna try to grow them in unheated garage. Don't have time to make any more wire baskets & plus I am under about 6" of snow now & don't feel like shoveling snow to bury my baskets of bulbs! LOL

Any tips on growing tulips & hyacinths & paper whites in pots in unheated garage would be GREAT! Other than DON'T OVER WATER! :P

Jodie

OK, what exactly do you all mean by "unheated garage"? Do you mean a garage attached to the house that is unheated, but still above freezing. Or can you really store potted bulbs in a location that will get well below freezing for long stretches?

It is an attached garage that is above freezing but NOT HEATED at all!! Bulbs will be PLENTY cold but NOT freeze. That's what I need for them, right? Everything I researched said freezing in pots is bad.....

I make a corral of straw bales on the north side of my house. I put the potted bulbs against the house and then bury them with leaves. It is not the freezing that harms the bulbs, it is repeated thawing and freezing along with too much moisture. The leaves prevent them from thawing and keep them from being exposed to excessive moisture.

I overwinter all of my potted herbaceous perennials with this method and it has served me well.

Kathy

Well I am new to Zone and travel a lot so I just got in my spring bulbs!!!
Well it was over 40 and raining so what can I say it was a nice day! However....
Is it too late? Some of the soil was frozen but I charged ahead anyways and so some bulbs didnt make it soo deep.
Will they grow?
I planted
narcissi professor einstein
narcissi gigantic star
Allium gladiator
Allium purple sensation
The Allium were ok, but some of the narcissi were dried out a bit and a little spongy, but most were ok.

What do you think?

When you say frozen and not planted deep do you mean you couldn't dig further because of ice?.... that would be bad.

If you mean a crust of ice and you were able to dig through it and plant, that's probably not too bad....

Only spring will tell for sure, in either case you're done and they are in the ground -which in 9 of 10 cases is the best place for them!

....the 9 out of 10 btw is from a VERY informal study

The planting schedule is a bit different in Southern California. I planted 230 bulbs (tulips, crocus, hyacinth, muscari) today. They've been chilling in the fridge since October.

Well in my hot climate, we planted all the bulbs (anemone, ranunculus, freesia, sparaxis, ornithogalum etc. ) in november except hyacinths. Hyacinth was planted in December in both water vases and in pots. Already planted galdiolous in october. All are sprouting well with galdiolous having many buds open. We are expecting other bulbs bloom during first week of january to continue till april.

Did not try tulips this year as they did not flower well last year.