All About Bulbs

Today I promised to continue about my obsession with bulbs. There are Spring flowering bulbs and Summer flowering bulbs and the fun thing to do with your garden is timing your plantings so you have flowers almost all year round. This is what we did in our garden and by the time the bulbs are done the mums are kicking in.Then the perennials are going, too.

Now, some more about the bulbs themselves.You want to do the 'squeeze' test and choose ones that are firm and not soft and do not have black or brown spots on them.Some bulbs LOOK dead but aren't.In the photo below this bulb should be discarded as it has black spots and was very dried out.  

Naked Lady Bulb

When planting follow the guide on the package as each type of bulb requires a different planting depth. As a rule plant the bigger bulbs deeper, like 6 inches and the smaller bulbs 4 inches.

Plan your plantings in an area with plenty of sunshine. Make sure there is sunshine available for them AFTER they flower for that is the time when they build their 'fat' to live on through the winter.

Once your bulbs are planted, they need little care and most will come back year after year.I often forget where I planted them until they happily surprise me by poking their smiling faces up to the sun.