eeks! I think I'm in trouble

The doorbell rings and here is the UPS guy w/ 650 Van Engelen daffs. are they insane? What are those thangs doing here already? I immediately called VE and they said their last ship date was end of Oct. and while very polite, their position is that I am SOL. I don't remember ever receiving daffs this early, they always get here early Dec.

Do you think I can keep them in a dark place for another month? They are going in a new bed and I haven't even started working on that--and won't as there are 3-4 projects ahead of the new daff bed.

your suggestions will be appreciately. I am peeved at VE but being that I ordered them in June, I can't remember the details, like who took my order, what was the delivery date, etc. All I know if that they didn't seem too sympathetic to my plight and that after all is said and done, I am staring at 650 daffs, so I must make lemonade out of this lemon. oh Lordie!

Wow Vossner, what kinds did you get? Do you have a refrigerator where you could store them? I myself think they'll be OK in a cool dark place, but just keep them dry as moisture will cause them to root if not cold enough. I have kept mine in boxes for a couple of weeks before planting them.

In the future, you may want to try Brent and Becky (much as I love V.E or J.S!!!) if you need late delivery - they deliver much, much later and variety is great and prices are decent. I still have not received my B&B narcissus order yet and on my order slip it says delivery in November - and I know they deliver all the way up until mid-December. My John Scheepers (Van Engelen) bulbs are well settled in the ground and got here weeks ago.

Steve

Hi Steve. I was in your neck of the woods last weekend. Went to the FW Bot Gardens and was absolutely blown away by the rose garden and the Jap. garden. wowzers! My friend used to live in FT Worth and we zoomed around in her batmobile all over town. I wondered what you might be doing on the fine Sat. afternoon that we had.

I have gotten bulbs from BB and they come in Dec. I think I might have just taken for granted that VE would also ship in Dec. I dunno. It's been too long for me to remember what was discussed in the way of shipping. I doubt I will buy from VE again because last week of Oct is simply too early for me. ugh.

I got
250 Geranium
300 Thalia
100 Hillstar

This message was edited Nov 6, 2008 2:22 PM

Ahhhhh - I wanted to try "Geranium" and I have planted Hillstar many times - fabulous selection!! You will love the scent.

Glad you had fun in FTW - I was out planting part of the day on Saturday and you're right the weather was beautiful. Thought we were gonna have our first freeze last night but it only got to 35 this morning before I left for work, LOL.

I love the Jonquilla daffs - have about 500 coming hopefully in a week or so. Need to try Thalia too as I have read so much good about it.

yes, you need to try thalia.

Cold and dark works for me when I get bulbs/plants out of sync. I now email suppliers I haven't used before and ask if I can get shipping in a specific time frame. Most are really great about it. It surprises me that they had that attitude when you placed a large order. hmph.

Well, today is a gorgeous day and I'm over the initial shock. I inspected the bulbs and they were simply fabulous, the size of chicken eggs, good color and firm. DH and I have rearranged our schedule so we can plant them in 2 weeks. I will buy from them again, just need to note on my calendar that last ship date is Oct. With planning I can make that work.

My world is back in sync.

Nery, can't wait to see pics of your big drifts of color! And Steve is right, the scent will waft all around- gotta love that! As you know, I've gone bulb crazy quite a few times, and have had bulbs laying around for a month or more before getting them in the ground. I've typically just left them in an unheated room and they were fine. I haven't ordered or purchased the first bulb this year. We've only had one rain since the first day of autumn (just one decent rain since mid July), but it did rain all day, thankfully. Now that the ground is moist I've been doing more in the garden, and feeling inclined to consider getting in on some of the end of season sales.

hiya neal. I was sort of waiting for rain also. we had some last week but not enough to make a dent on my heavy clay. anywho, I think all will be fine and I'll be able to post bragapics next spring.

Looking forward to the bragapics.

we rearranged the schedule and got this done. wow a lot of work. I have gained a new appreciation for those who plant in the thousands in their homes and tens of thousands in the public gardens.

after marking a sunny spot, we rented a 6 HP tiller for $40/4 hrs. The night previous to getting the tiller we watered the area thoroughly for easier tilling. To work heavy, compacted clay soil you need at a minimum a 5HP tiller.

This message was edited Nov 11, 2008 3:01 PM

Tilled for 2 hrs to break up the clay. Added compost and and tilled a 2nd time, another 2 hrs.

Any 'bye bye lawn' shots? I luv 'bye bye lawn' shots! There's something so satisfying about getting rid of the green thirsty monster IMHO.

Planted 650 bulbs. 300 thalia, 250 Geranium, 100 Hillstar. Went to the store and returned tiller. also got chicken wire. would you believe that by the time we came back (1 hr) those !@#$% were already up to their shenanigans? grrrr.

rolled chicken wire. See what you can dig now, squirrely squirrels

dahlia, I forgot to mention we had rounduped the area earlier.

This is the almost finished bed, with another 2-3" wood based compost applied on top of the chicken wire. hen a thorough watering. This will be it for now. In another couple of weeks we will apply another 2" of mulch and consider the project complete. edited to add: the bed is about 130 square feet. Depending on the rewards next spring, we will add 600-1000 each year. don't know yet, we'll see.

The only thing I might do different is instead of tilling the clay, I may simply build higher beds w/ compost and sand. Less work.

This message was edited Nov 6, 2008 2:40 PM

That's gonna work like a charm vossner. I did battle with Damien the Spawn of Satan Treerat all last weekend. I'm done now and he can't penetrate my defenses MAAAAHAHA (my truly evil laugh)

bwahahahahaha

ooo good evil laugh. I'm adding that one to my repertoire.

I feel the same way as you two but only my evil is gophers!!

Gophers and moles are really tough to beat! I feel for you.

seems like impossible. And they seem to be very active at the moment. They stay away from Daffs so I planted a few of those. But it is war at my place!!

I couldn't resist the local sale at Lowes and got about 100 more Geranium and 100 Yellow Early Cheer and created another quickie bed. They were roughly 16 cents a bulb. I took all they have but they also have a few other varieties which I don't think do well in Houston. I didn't touch those.

As an experiment, I did not protect this bed w/ chicken wire. Hubby and I had noticed that the first bed (which has chicken wire) has not been bothered at all. I mean, no evidence of little paws trying to dig/undig stuff. Nothing, nada, zip. So, I am going to see if they bother this 2nd bed. If they do, they I will scream a few profanities, remove mulch and put the chicken wire.

Could those pesky squirrels know before hand which bed(s) have chicken wire protection and which don't? Surely, they're not that smart, can't be....

vossner.. the bulbs from VE are usually great, hope they survive your Texas "Winter"


_ Kenneth

Ken! so good to see ya. Hope you had a wonderful Christmas.

Vossner...since we don't have basements in TX I would say put the bulbs in your farthest closet that you would not use & is not close to any heat source...I put my hyacinth bulbs in my closet one year & they didn't root at all until they were supposed to.

???? I planted them today.

Vossner squirrels have evil powers. I believe they are bulb whisperers. I hope your new bulbs are smart bulbs and will send them 'chicken wire' thoughts.

ohhh sorry!! hahahaha..I'll be ok..I think..it's this warm weather we're having!! It's really doing a number on the ol senses! hahahaha

Some year I interplant garlics, the kind that I bought from the grocery store with my bulbs. It's said garlic will discourage critters from munching on our bulbs? Since mine is an annual bed, I can't really tell the difference b/w the time I planted garlic among other bulbs such as Tulips, and the time I didn't. I do know I've seen enough chipmonds, moles/voles and squirrels in the garden.

This is my spring bulbs bed this year. I used pansies and Kales to dress up the bed 'til the bulbs take over the show in early spring.

Vossner, wow, lots of bulbs to conquer! Best of lucks.
Kim

Love the look of your early bed with the kale and pansy. I didn't think the squirrels would eat narcissus. But maybe southern ones do. I think the idea of interplanting garlic is clever. When do you harvest your garlic? And do you think the grocery store ones work well enough? I planted a bunch this fall. Hardneck types. I am hoping that I get a good crop. I think I might stick some in my border beds neck year too. Patti

This message was edited Dec 31, 2008 2:07 PM

Patti, you're right, Daffodils are critter safe, at least as far as getting eaten, although some have trouble with digging animals unearthing bulbs. But I've never seen a Narcissus nibbled on. On the garlic, you can plant grocery store types. Typically in late spring/early summer the tops start yellowing and drying off, and thats the time to harvest- while you can still find them.

Patti,
I planted the garlics in years past, but did not harvest them for the kitchen usage. Gemini_sage's input is very sound. Thanks Gemini_sage.
Kim
p.s. Vosner, how are you doing with your bulbs planting project. All planted and mulched over? Happy New Year everyone, and a prosperous new gardening year.

Lily, I meant to say earlier, be sure to post pics of that bed in spring. I can tell its going to be gorgeous!

Thanks, gemini_sage. I'll do just that. Maybe pix of the bulbs just poking through the ground....soon.

Oh, that's right, in your zone spring blooms are just around the corner :-)

Lily, I have mine starting to sprout too & I think a cat was digging them up so I put extra soil over them in case we get another freeze. I can't beleive the warm temps we are getting now..it was in the 70's at Christmas!!! :0)

happy new year, everybody!

Lily, beds are all done, wasn't as hard as I thought. So far, the dang tree rats have not bothered the one w/ chicken wire or the one w/o. so far so good, a few sprouts but not many.

all that's left to do is to diet and wait, wait, wait for daffs to grow.

day after Christmas I found some paperwhite at Lowes, 6/50 cents. I bought some for indoor forcing. Yesterday I went to Whole Foods, where they had some in blooms, yuk, that stunk!

Vossner, Glad you got all your bulbs planted. Now for the wait. Your wait will be far shorter than mine. Jealous. Please post pictures.

I buy a big bag or two of paper whites to force throughout the whole winter. They make me so happy, as do the Hippeastrum which are now starting their annual show. You got me so hooked when you took over that Amaryllis coop a few years ago. Your "kids" are all doing well, except one, which grows great leaves but no spike, yet. Could be the year. Patti

LOL, vossner you're among many gardeners that I've ran across that perceived Paperwhite's fragrant disagreable, just like my 'lil sister does. lol. I like them when I forced them indoor and think the auroma is strong but not that over-whelming. lol. Amaryllis blooms, I wished I've better luck with them here outdoor. They will do fine for a couple of years then begun to decline due to our hot and humid summer.

Here is some paperwhite that I planted outdoor after being forced indoor in years past.