At the garden store

[pegkerr]

I went out to the garden stores today and bought 112 tulip bulbs and 44 crocus bulbs. Now I have to plant them all. My arms hurt just thinking of it.

But in the spring my gardens are going to be beautiful,

Comments

[airemay.livejournal.com]

I loved gardening with my father when I was a kid (I really don't do it anymore because our garden died a very long ago). I'm better at veggies than flowers though. *G*

[jlh.livejournal.com]

When I was at college, the House Master's wife used to set out bulbs every fall in the grounds around the House. Often some of the students, tutors and fellows would help her, and it really just felt like fall, to be back at school and watch people setting bulbs.

(My own mother didn't really do that; she's a rose grower, so fall for her was about getting the bushes ready to winter over.)

Use...

[lsanderson.livejournal.com]

Large drill bits... I've a large one and a huge one for planting bulbs. They're awesome.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Um . . . you mean you take a power drill to the soil or something? *Tries to picture it*

Yes...

[lsanderson.livejournal.com]

It's like a mini ice auger... the big one is about three inches across, and the smaller one, perfect for crocus, is about an inch. They're both quite long -- the small about 20 inches and the large maybe thirty. They go into a power drill -- I used the battery drill so I didn't have to string power cords along. If you know where you want them and how deep, it's pretty fast to put just the holes down -- if you're that kind of planter. I put 100 daffodills down in an hour or so (not counting the time I sat around and waited for the battery to recharge).

It mounds the ground up around the hole just like a post hole auger... so after you drill them, you thrown in the bulb and cover with dirt.

It's the only tool for planting bulbs I've ever had that actually works as advertised.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Intriguing! Where can I get one?

(Um, can I borrow it???)

Sure...

[lsanderson.livejournal.com]

You can borrow them and the drill & charger too if you need it.

Menards sells them. I've got one other piece o' crap bulb planter drill thing... but the augers actually work. I've also got a hand bulb planter -- worthless piece of junk, and a foot model -- ditto. Guess it just goes to show that Archimedes wuz right.

I should add...

[lsanderson.livejournal.com]

That you have to either have the clutch set fairly high or be ready for torque if the auger hits something... but compared to shovels, it's a breeze.

[llinos.livejournal.com]

My previous (now departed) dog Toby used to love to help me garden. But the first time I planted bulbs with him, he watched me go back into the house and then dug them all up again and brought them in one at a time and laid them on the mat.

He was very pleased with himself, as if to say, "Look you left all these outside and I've brought them back! What a good dog am I!"

I replanted them when he wasn't looking.

[sraun]

Irene did 100 daffodils, 20 alium, 40 crocus and 14 tulips.

It took her five or six days of actual work to get them all in the ground. Part of this was because the daffodils went under the grass, and she could find no good tool for getting through the grass roots easily.

[naomikritzer]

Molly and I planted a bunch of bulbs a couple of weeks ago. I used a shovel to dig out a couple of square feet at a time, set the bulbs in, and covered them up again. Much easier than the little one-at-a-time bulb planter gadget that I used the last time I planted bulbs. Now we'll see if the squirrels dig them all up and eat them. The garden store lady suggested that we plant daffodil bulbs in with the tulips, because those are supposed to smell like onion and repel squirrels. My mother suggested that I fertilize with bone meal or blood meal, which she hypothesizes is actually made from ground-up squirrels and thus sends the clear message, "DANGER! DEATH! STAY AWAY!" to the local squirrel population.

[naomikritzer]

Forgot to note -- so, I did both. Daffodils AND bone meal. Hopefully one will keep away the damn rodents.

[chamisa.livejournal.com]

My arms hurt just thinking about how much your arms are going to hurt. ::grin::

Your gardens are indeed going to be beautiful. What a wonderful thing to look forward to!

The only thing I'm planting soon is a mimosa tree I dug up from the house I just sold and moved from. It was growing right next to the house in a very bad place, so I dug it up earlier this year--and it was pretty big then so that was some hard work!--and potted it, and now am planning to plant it in the yard of my new house. I hope it survives the ordeal.

Re: I should add...

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much! I'll e-mail you to arrange a time I can pick it up.