Bulb planting
There’s something to be said for blissful ignorance. There are so many forms of communication nowadays that being unaware of what is going on has to be a deliberate choice; don’t listen to the radio, turn off the TV and don’t read twitter. Take the weather for instance. The Countryfile weather forecast had set expectations high that a spell of good weather was on its way, the Indian summer I had been hoping for. For days though a thick layer of looming and oppressive cloud hung over this corner of Wales. The sense of disappointment was huge but it was made worse when I would hear reports of sunshine and warmth elsewhere. The thought that if we lived only 40 miles or so further west or north and I would be basking in glorious sunshine just made me feel as if I was missing out, rather like knowing there was a party taking place that I really wanted to go to but couldn’t be there. Much better to not know the party was going on in the first place!!
Tuesday was another day that started off with a slate grey sky, the cloud was so low it was almost making me feel claustrophobic. Opening the curtains in the dining room I spotted a little mammalian treat left behind so thoughtfully by our neighbour’s cat. I made a mental note to tackle the mouse’s disposal after breakfast. Of course I got distracted and forgot entirely about the dead creature so inconveniently deposited just by the greenhouse. So an hour or so later, on my way to check my seedlings in the greenhouse, I stopped to see if our resident frog was poking through the pond weed. I knew instantaneously what the soft squishy thing was that I could now feel under one of my flip-flops and screamed. I had stood on the dead mouse. Poor thing! To add insult to injury the meaninglessness of its death, purely as a play thing for a cat that has no need for extra food as it waddles around the neighbourhood, had now just been compounded by the lack of respect my shoe had shown it.
Despite the lack of sun I thought I’d better make the most of the fact that it was at least warm and start my bulb planting. I really dislike bulb planting. It’s hard work and the deferred gratification of having to wait until spring to see any rewards for your efforts doesn’t help. My strategy this year is to plant the bulbs in stages rather than in one mammoth session. This will hopefully make it all seem a less daunting task. The first of the bulbs to be planted were those I had bought to force for some early colour indoors this winter. I prefer to not give Christmas any thought until about mid-November, if I have any say in it but sometimes a little planning ahead is necessary and with my pots and bulb fibre ready I got planting. There were some paper white narcissus which should flower before Christmas, a multi-headed and highly scented narcissus called ‘Grand Soleil d’Or’, an amarylis and some Hyacinth ‘L’Innocence’, a beautiful simple white especially prepared for forcing. I haven’t grown any bulbs this way since I was a child, it was one of my mum’s rituals to plant hyacinths every autumn. I remember planting them in brightly coloured bowls and putting them under the bed in the spare room and checking them every week or so, waiting to see signs of shoots poking through. I never used to like the smell of hyacinths so it’ll be interesting to see if my sense of smell has matured at all. I’m hoping that planting these strongly scented bulbs isn’t going to make parts of the house a no-go zone this winter.
The hyacinths need a spell in a cool, dark place to allow roots to develop. I simply covered my pots in the left-over bulb fibre compost bag and then put them in a cool spot in the house. I’ll check on them every now and again and when shoots start to poke through I’ll remove the compost bag and move them into the light. I planted them into normal plastic pots but the plan is to get hold of some zinc planters in the coming weeks. I think the combination of the white flowers and the silvery zinc will look quite festive.
The daffodil varieties I’m growing, on the other hand, don’t need light excluding from them. So I’ve put the pots in a cool spot in the garden for now. As the weather gets a little cooler I’ll then bring them indoors. The amarylis needs warmth and light and is sitting in the greenhouse at the moment because of the warm weather but, as soon as the temperature starts to drop, it too will take up residence on my kitchen windowsill. You don’t need to use bulb fibre to plant up indoor bulbs, a multi-purpose compost mixed with some perlite to improve drainage is fine. Bulb fibre is best though if you’re using containers that don’t have drainage holes in them as it has charcoal in it which will keep the compost smelling fresh.
Woven birch plant supports
I have, in the past, bought bulbs already planted up from the garden centre which are just about to flower but they do have a tendency to become very floppy. The low light levels of winter mean they strain for any available light and they are quite tall plants for a pot anyway. Garden centres often put a stick painted green into the pot to provide some support but it’s such an ugly thing and detracts from the beautiful flowers. So that’s why I spent yesterday weaving some birch twigs to create some more natural looking means of support for my home-grown forced bulbs. The birch twigs are brilliant and super flexible and the woven structures should do the trick.
As the hours passed the sun did finally burn through the cloud, so much so that I was gardening in a vest top and shorts by the end of the day. Strange to think that these bulbs will be flowering in several months time when the warmth of summer will be a distant memory. Hopefully their flowers will brighten up those winter days. Does anyone else grow bulbs for indoors? I’d love to hear about your favourites.
wellywoman 
There must be something in the weather, the season or just general feline nature – my version of Next Door’s Cat left me three rodents a few days ago and one had been posted in my trug, where it – er – melted slightly. Have thrown trug out. On a more serious note, good tip on staggering the bulb planting. My order has just arrived — oooooo….
I’m planning to plant some Paper Whites to give to friends for Christmas. I’ve asked that my bulbs are delivered the last week in October as before that it’s usually too warm for planting them, they grow to much now and this can mean they are shorter in spring. I don’t like the smell of hyacinths either although last year I planted some in the garden, I was a bit dissapointed as I expected them to flower for longer but they gave a nice splash of colour early on so I hope they return next spring.
Poor mouse, at least it didn’t feel you when you trod on it. Any cats that venture into our garden are well and truly chased away. We have some new neighbours and they have 2 cats, I really hope they don’t find our dormice!
I have to admit that I’m behind with my bulb planting, I must get a move on!
I was really pleased with Paperwhite narcissus last winter. Hoping the bulb will perform again. They give a superb scent.
Just planted tons of bulbs in the garden not for the house, sorry. But I also planted some Erythronium and Galanthus in pots to appreciate them on the terrace when they start to flower. I like your birch plant support.
some good advice here – too often my indoor bulbs fail and outdoor ones are blind by Spring. The woven supports are a nice touch
I love cats but don’t love the way they kill birds and animals for pleasure, nor do I love the fact that nearly all the cats in the neighbourhood use my front garden as a toilet. I haven’t even started thinking about bulbs yet and it only registered that it’s bulb planting time when I saw that Wilkos had them in stock when I ventured in there last week. I didn’t have time to see what they’d got on offer but I shall be returning soon. I love hyacinths in the house, they smell so lovely, but I usually buy them about to bloom rather than growing them myself.
Glad you finally got some warm weather yesterday. The mouse story is a bit of a horror! I hadn’t given bulbs a thought yet, but I shall look out for some hyacinths now you have mentioned them I think.
Recently the days here have started off dull but then brightened up later, and been surprisingly warm when it has done.
My mum was keen on indoor bulbs, especially hyacinths. I like paper white narcissus but they’re not something I’ve ever tried growing.
A good, and helpful, post for anybody wanting to grow indoor bulbs. xx
When I was a little boy, I found a dead shrew and put it on the living room carpet (seemed a perfectly normal thing to do at the time). I came back a little later to find my sister unknowingly sitting on it. So – it could have been worse, WW. (She was ever so angry). Sorry the weather hasn’t been kind – it’s been pretty good here in Sussex. But then you probably don’t want to know that. D
At least you were were wearing flip- flops WW when foot came into contact with poor dead mouse! Your post is a welcome nudge to me to plant some bulbs soon especially hyacinths. I’ve got in the back of my mind that hyacinth bulbs need to be planted by mid September in order for them to be in flower for Christmas but I’m quite happy with the idea of colour to coincide with the new year. I may plant a few little daffs too. Your birch supports are definitely more attractive than those green sticks.
I am waiting for my bulb order to come which includes prepared hyacinths for my hyacinth vases – I am rarely successful with them but keep trying 😉 Good idea to pace the outside planting of this tedious gardening job though! I love your supports too and really need to make more use of the hazel trimmings which we have an endless supply of.
Eugh, poor mouse – and poor flipflop! I m probably going to regret not buying some bulbs for indoors this year, but I have found paperwhites too overpowering in the past, hyacinths too, but I will probably have forgotten this by next year and will try again. Love the birch supports. Bulb planting is definitely best done in small bursts of activity, particularly if other plants have to be moved around to fit them in, which is what I am facing. I have tulips on order, which I plan to plant really deep. My back hurts already…
May I offer an alternative take on wild life. I have a lot of respect for the killing attitudes for pleasure that many mammals exhibit. Killer whales do it with seal pups they manage to catch. I assume it develops their reflexes and ability to catch food to eat when this is needed. Mammals do us all a great service by keeping the population of that particular species down – now for the contraversial bit – as do wars , floods, and disasters of all kinds help keep down the human race which has multiplied to such a great an extent that ‘the world’ which a lot of people mean to be the human world cannot cope. Look at it from the point of view of elephants tigers and beetles. We’re heading to a ‘lovely’ world where humans will cease to exist thanks to global warming. Perhaps an alterative intelligence will enjoy itself in a few billion years time with not sign of a human about ! . . . . .
Love your diy plant supports…can’t abide the smell of Hyacinths though…far too strong…gives me a headache.
Yuck, that wasn’t very pleasant for you, I’ve got a cat so am well used to the ‘gifts’ that he brings in the house. But that squelch….
I grew paper whites last year but my other half isn’t keen on the smell so I’m going to have to give them a miss this year. I really like your hyacinth plants supports, a nice idea and good to do them now I always end up trying to do something once they have started flopping and thats just too messy.