Am I On The Right Track?

I got my bulbs yesterday and am just waiting for my auger to show up. I've been reading up on all the info I can find about bulbs, but I still have a few questions. Help, please!

If I want to use my auger, but still use chicken wire, should I just cut a piece and lay it at the bottom of the hole then bury another piece somewhere in the hole as I'm replacing the dirt?

I have clay soil, and read somewhere that it said to add sand for better drainage...but clay + sand = bricks. Shouldn't I just use compost instead, just like you do for anything else?

I've also read lots of confusing and contradicting info about fertilizing. Some say no ferts the first year at all. Other says none in the hole because it'll burn the roots. Other says pile it in the hole! I'm guessing my best bet is to use some superphosphate over the top of the soil after planting. I'm saying superphosphate because I've read that bone/blood meal can attract those pesky squirrels and chipmunks.

So, does it look like I have most of my info correct or am I going to mess this up royally? If I'm missing something please let me know!
Thanks,
Heather

people who use chicken wire usually make a little box out of the chicken wire and put their bulbs into it. that would be for all critters, voles, squirrels,etc. If you just need for squirrels or other top diggers, you could just lay chicken wire over the top and anchor it with metal landscape pins. don't worry about amending your clay soil, they will come up, unless they rot from moisture or eaten by critters. If they will be returning bulbs I would fertilize in the spring, because they have everything they need in the bulb for this season.bloodmeal will repel more critters than it attracts, but bonemeal will certainly cause the possum's to dig your stuff up. I find that a hand mattock (chopper) works better than drill augers.and if you have several hundred or more i would use a rototiller. What's funny about clay soil is that everyone says it doesn't breathe and isn't porous, poor draining, but if you google terra cotta clay pots (harder than any clay soil anywhere), they say that they are porous and breathe and you lose more water than other types.

Yeah, but the clay pots are dried. As "soil" it's thick, sticky and can pull your boots off. It creates a very bad drainage problem and I've suffered from it and so have my poor plants. We live at nearly the top of a hill and have had our basement flood because of drainage problems...you wouldn't think the tip-top of a hill would be a place where drainage would be a problem. Anyhoooooooo....

I can't really use a tiller for where I want to plant the bulbs. I want to put them in amongst my perennials and around my young fruit trees. I have 180 bulbs...Daffs, Tulips, Hyacinths and Crocus. I get the idea of the wire cage box, but what about when you want to plant them "individually"? Like when you use the auger? Is there any point in wrapping a single bulb in chicken wire? Won't the little rascals just carry them off, wire and all?

I don't think I have to worry about opossums here, but probably mostly everything else. I've planted Lilies before and they've all disappeared. Very disappointing.

If you're concerned about drainage maybe you should consider a raised bed. Soggy, sticky soil, as you have already indicated you have, is hard on bulbs and few bulbs can withstand prolonged wet conditions in which they can't breathe. Good chance the poor drainage is what did in your lilies as well. My last house had heavy clay and terrible drainage and I got great results from raised beds. You can buy some sandy loam from a landscaper or make your own mix from sand, topsoil, and compost mix from the garden center. Really give it some thought - it's some extra work but the long-term results will likely make your investment worthwhile as you watch your bulbs return year after year! Plus, planting will be lots easier. You still need to protect them if you have burrowing animals who eat them, however!

I'm sorry, I should have been more clear. My *unamended* soil is sticky, icky clay. I have a compost pile which has turned a lot of my gardening area into nice, plantable soil. The only places I'll really need to amend is near the trees. Every time I plant anything I always throw in some compost because it never hurts and only improves the soil...that's why I couldn't understand why it'd be any different for bulbs. Where my perennials are is very nice soil, thanks to my DMIL gardening before me and the added compost.

I'd love to have raised beds, those are on my wish list. Maybe Santa will bring me some?

The big problem with the clay that I have right now is that we paid to have some top soil brought in and the guy brought us....you guessed it....clay. Basically he brought us clean fill dirt. But, that's another story for another time, I'm not planting bulbs (or anything else) there because everything turns to mush.

Oh, the Lilies were in good soil...and were gone. I dug up where I had planted them trying to find them...not a trace of a single bulb. However, my Glad bulbs have never been touched but they are surrounded by either stone or wood edging and right up against the house.

heathrjoy some of your bulbs shouldn't be bothered. I don't have any squirrels here, just voles. I never protected them. I noticed a few lilies, bulb iris that didn't come up. some did though. we had a lot of rain this spring. most in a hundred years they said. i have flat ground and some low spots. oh and plenty of that nice, fertile sticky clay! lol!

Thanks so much for the help. I just want to make sure I'm doing this right. Glads & the Lilies are the only bulbs I've done before. My DMIL gardened here before me and she had bulbs...but they are all gone now. She passed away this past spring and it would just be a nice way to remember her by planting the bulbs. I guess that's why I seem anxious about getting this right...and, of course, I don't want to waste my time and money.

If you have clay soil, you may want to go to Home Depot or somewhere and buy a bag of builder's sand. I think it comes in 70# bags (very inexpensive. Put a scoop in each planting hole with some peat before you put the bulb in. http://daffodilusa.org/daffodils/naturalizing.html

heathrjoy, I have sticky icky clay too, the real mucky stuff where your shoes start weighing 10 pounds each after working in it. I feel your pain!

When it comes to planting bulbs in that stuff, I haven't worried about it. I plant a few hundred every year, and they're doing beautifully. As far as amendments (compost only), I amend entire beds as I go, so I don't do any special soil treatment when planting bulbs specifically. They will continue to get what the rest of the bed gets. Over time the whole area will get better. I want to re-iterate compost!

If I were going to plant bulbs in a naturalized area where I haven't created a bed, I'd just dig a hole and stick the bulb in there. I plan to do that with a little experiment that I'm going to conduct after bulbs go on sale.

As far as little beasties are concerned, sorry, I have no experience to share. Best of luck to you! And don't worry quite so much about getting it right the first time. You'll learn from trial and error, and there's no sure-fire solution that works for everyone everywhere all the time anyway. Will anxiously await updates. :-)

I don't have the room to make compost but I'm having 10 yards of 2-year-old leaf humus delivered today. How does that compare to finished compost? How much should I dig in for my bulbs? I have great top soil for about 5", then okay but heavy soil for another 5" or so, then slimy orange clay underneath sometimes with a few small rocks.

The American Daffodil Society recommends adding sand and peat mixture into a hole dug from clay soil then as you place the bulb in the hole, add a handful of sand.. I have South Georig a red clay and if I want any bulbs, the soil has to be amended. This sand peat mixture is good for any buld since most all of them need drainage
velnita, I can't answer your question about the 2yr old leaf litter. I just feel the bulb doesn't need to sit directly on clay. Once the clay is saturated, it stays wet for a long time unless the sun hits it, then it's like a brick. LOL.

I can't answer anything about the clay soil but I can tell you that I put bulb fertilizer in the holes. I just dig down a few inches below where the bulbs will sit (it is good to loosen this soil as well) or put above the soil mixed around not directly touching the bulb. Recommend you use regular bulb fertilizer as it will have the proper ratio and not too much nitrogen which you definitely don't want. I never tried bone meal but also read that it attract animals etc. so I steered clear of it.

Edit: removed duplicate advice.

This message was edited Oct 11, 2007 1:21 PM

From what I read about amending the soil it said to add either sand + peat or humus. So, I'd say that your leaf humus is going to be perfect. Here we have a few inches of nice top soil, then it's the icky sticky clay with rocks of all sizes. When we dug out for our veggie garden years ago we pulled out boulders.

Because I have this clay soil I've done some reading up on how to improve it and I've been working on it for the last few years. All my attempts have failed except for compost (and all that really is is adding rotted organic matter). Sand + peat never seemed to do the trick for me, so it surprises me that that's what the Daff Society recommends. Maybe it's just my lovely soil?? The thing for me is that compost not only improves the drainage but it also improves the nutrients and brings in the wormies. I guess that whatever works for you is what you should use! Maybe I'll plant some both ways and see if there's any difference next spring, lol.

A local arborist told me that OSU did a study that showed that adding sand to our type of soil wasn't a good thing---organic material was a much better choice in our area. But there are different kinds of clay so perhaps sand/peat might work better in your area.

Have you thought about contacting your local extension office to see what they say works well in your area? They are a wonderful resource for advice pertaining to your local conditions.

No, I haven't done that, but that is the best advice yet! You know, I've always wanted to contact them and maybe this is just the reason/excuse that I should. I'll let y'all know if I do.

Sure thing, will do.
Edited to say, I'm going to call my extention office too. That's a great idea.

This message was edited Oct 11, 2007 2:37 PM

I just got my auger in the mail! Whoo-hoo! This thing is really heavy. Have to go find DH's drill and try this thing out. If it's too much fun I may just end up planting all the bulbs before I get that phone call made, lol.

Please let me know what you think of it. I've thought about buying one because I have 360 bulbs sitting here that need to be planted in the next week. I've been turning the soil today but I still have to dig in the humus---so by the time I get to planting I should be quite pooped.

Awww, you poor thing. You need a tiller. You should look into renting one if nothing else.

I tried the auger and it works great...with just a few complaints. DH's drill is quite powerful, and has enough torque to spin my arm right off if the auger hits a rock. Right now that's a very bad thing...I'm healing up from torn tendons on the bicep of my right arm, ugh. The auger I got is about 2' long and will dig a 3" diameter hole up to 8" deep. The shaft on it is round, so if it's not in the chuck of the drill super, super tight the chuck just spins and the auger stays still. DH got it super tight and then we got down to digging some holes! I let him do most of the holes because of my arm. He did hit some rocks which stopped the auger, but for the most part this thing is fantastic! Sure beats digging by hand. We were using it in soil that was unamended to just try it out. When I used it in our amended soil it was like cutting butter with a hot knife. I'm thinking I'll be using this to put plants in next spring too.

If you get an auger look for one with a hex-shaped shaft/bit/end. That way yours will work better. I really think they are worth the money. Being that this one is 2' long it means no crawling on the ground. Just auger the hole, drop the bulb, kick the dirt in and done.

Since it started raining and DH had to go into work I didn't get my bulbs planted today...but I did get my weeding done, lol.

I talked to a neighbor about the chipmunks, squirrels, etc. in our area and she said she's never had a problem with them stealing her bulbs. So, for right now I'm not going to worry about the chicken wire. Hopefully I won't regret it!

We've discussed getting a tiller but our yard isn't that big plus I want to get the humus deeper than a tiller will go. I want to provide good drainage under the plant roots. So if the bulb is planted 6" deep and the roots go farther, then I need to hand dig deeper. It's okay---I'm only going to do this once (grins).

The auger sounds like fun. I bet my hubby would love it! Of course then he'd want a new drill to go along with it....

velnita....pretty much what I've been doing this year. Make an "H" cut in the lawn with a shovel 1x2' to 2'x3'. Peel back the top and bottom from the center of the "H". Scoop out the dirt. Put down potting mix (from my earthbox) mixed with decomposed cow manure. Toss in the bulbs. Cover with removed soil. Add a little slow release fertilizer. Fold back the top and bottom of the "H". Add soil in the cracks of the sod, sprinkle lime on top (5.7 pH here), water and stamp down.

Done half a dozen of them so far (at least twenty more to do) and the squirrels haven't gotten any bulbs yet. They aren't a great problem here but they do check the lawn every day.

I'm guessing at all this. I'll know next spring how well it worked.

heathrjoy, typically tulips and crocus are the only ones on your list that are critter prone; daffs and hyacinths are safe from most. That may save you some time with chicken wire. Some bulbs, tulips and hyacinths in particular, prefer to be as dry as possible during the summer, so that may be why some sources recommend sand over compost.
Best of luck!
Neal

Thank you Neal, that's some very good info. I do have sand here, I just don't use it very often, mostly just for seed starting mixes (I think, lol). Maybe I'll just cover the tulips and crocus with some wire, or even some rocks or boards...then remove them in the spring.

David Paul, it sure sounds like both you and Velnita are going to be busy and working hard in the garden! But, your plan sounds wonderful...I don't know either about how everything works with bulbs, obviously! You sure seem to have a plan though. Let us know how it works because I'd love to copy it. I think the "H" idea is genius!

It's cold again today, but so far no rain, so maybe I'll get some of these bulbs in. If not then DH can hopefully help this weekend.

David, please let us know how it turns out. What little lawn we have is weeds so in a few years I want to have it sodded. I had thought of planting crocus in the grass but since I plan on killing the grass, I need to wait.

Gemini, you have me wondering....when I planted my iris, I mixed lots of humus and green sand into the clay soil. And they have really taken off! Do you think it would be good for daffies, tulips, and hyacinths? Does anyone know the difference between regular sand and green sand in how it mixes with clay? Will the green sand mix with my clay to form concrete? Would it be a waste of time and $$ to do it for the tulips since they are done feeding for the year or would it be there to feed them in the spring and provide better drainage?

I won't be in the garden this weekend. I work 13 hours a day on fri, sat., and sun. Plus almost an hour drive each way. But hubby (hopefully) will finish what I started. With the beds prepared, I'll get to do the fun stuff of planting on Monday!

Heather, here's a good test to check your soil to see if it drains well enough for bulbs.

Velnita, those are some great questions. I don't know anything about green sand, but sure wish I did.

Thanks for the tips Crodeledawg, I had read that before somewhere, but couldn't remember exactly how it went....

But, we got all the bulbs planted. We just came in from finishing. I think one time I accidentally grabbed some Hyacinth bulbs when I meant to grab Tulips, but other than that everything went so wonderfully. It was fun. We decided to put them all in the front garden, they wouldn't really be seen or enjoyed out back. I also ended up skipping the trees, I'll either have to get more or do them next year. I was surprised how far 180 bulbs went. I can't imagine trying to plant them without the auger though.

Since all the bulbs went in the front garden they are all in amended soil, so no worries about drainage...and if I'm wrong I'll find out in spring. We ended up layering some of the bulbs and I'm really excited to see how that turns out.

BTW, I got my auger off of eBay if I didn't mention that earlier. It was new, but even if it had been used I don't see what the difference would be. Ours is now missing some paint, but unless it's been bent somehow I think they'll work forever. I even used mine to dig a hole for a small Daylily the other day. LOVE it!

Congratulations on your bulb planting. That's a job rewarded come spring. Post pictures in the spring!

Congrats! It sounds like you had fun! I've never tried to layer bulbs before. I too want to see pictures in the spring.

The layering we did was simple, nothing complicated. Just some crocus over top of the Daffs, Tulips or Hyacinths. We'll see how it works and maybe next fall I'll get more daring.