Gardening: a hopeful tale

Self-tutoring about gardening: the tutor relates a story with a couple of pleasant surprises.

Back in October, I bought a bunch of bulbs to plant in an unused flower bed. I bought daffodils, tulips, and alliums, I think. The bulbs were cheap, so I was happy to buy them. Planting them afterwards was another story.

Anyway, a few of the bulbs didn’t look promising, perhaps seven in total. Considering there might have been 50 daffodil bulbs, then about 40 tulip bulbs, I didn’t worry about it. However, it was hectic, the two days I planted them, so I just tossed the damaged-looking bulbs onto another garden bed where trees grow.

I didn’t know if I’d planted the bulbs correctly, because it turns out there’s more to it than one might think. I didn’t post about it because I feared I’d done it wrong. However, maybe five weeks ago, the daffodils peaked above the ground, and now there are numerous of them blooming. (God be praised.)

Perhaps even more surprising, also about five weeks ago, a couple of the bulbs I’d cast aside, thinking they wouldn’t work, were manifesting green shoots as well. They were just lying on the ground, with green shoots coming out. (This suggested to me that perhaps the bulbs were more durable than the planting directions had intimated.)

Well, I thought at the time, it might be too early for those bulbs, in their vegetative state, to be on the ground without any cover. It being early February, a cold snap could yet occur. Therefore, I dug two planting holes for them and covered them up, hoping they would realize what was happening and push up to the surface.

It took until this week, but finally those two plants did breach the soil. I’m very happy for them, that they managed to survive a couple of non-standard situations. They might bloom a little later than the others, but good on them.