Tuesday, while the weather was still warm and the ground was soaked, I planted all 65 of my daffodil bulbs and about 16 of my tulip bulbs. I left the rest of the tulips to serve as replacements, since they are tasty to squirrels.
The main problem is that I had to remain hunched over and squatting while digging all those holes. It was too wet and muddy to kneel. Not to mention planting in the back of the garden bed.
When I checked again last night, I didn't see any squirrel damage. Maybe planting between the rain drops helped. It certainly washed away that fresh dirt smell, and one muddy spot looked like the other.
It is still raining. Instead of wiping out the drought in Autumn, we seem to be doing it November. That would be good, except of course for the waterlogged ground.
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3 comments:
I just discovered your site. I must tell you the crazy lengths to which I extended myself a year ago.
I was just fed up with the squirrels (and striped gophers) munching on my tulip bulbs. I've always enjoyed those blossoms in the Spring and wanted see them again! ;-)
Anyway, I read a tip about making little wire cages in a gardening magazine. Okay, I thought. I'll do it. So I bought some hardware cloth, wire, etc., and proceeded to snip through each little wire (about 3/8" apart) the entire width of the roll. (At that point a small gray cloud seemed to be gathering over my head.) Next I made vertical cuts every so often and ended up with rectangles that I wired together to make cylinders. (Little cloud is darkening.) THEN I wired little squares on the top of each one, dug a hole for a tulip bulb, inserted the bulb, placed the "contraption" over the bulb, covered the entire rigamarole with dirt... Believe you me, I only did about 8 of them and I was "winded!"
The last concession I made was to dig a wide hole, place several bulbs in it, cover all the bulbs with a large square of hardware cloth, and replace the dirt. Most of them bloomed last Spring. I hope they all make it this coming Spring. And I won't do that again! ha.
Nice visit. Hope you don't mind my long story. :-)
I'll keep my fingers crossed that the squirrels don't eat the tulips and that your wire cages work! At least you are getting rain and not snow.
Welcome shady. I really don't go to lengths to prevent squirrels. Just a wing and a prayer approach. That's why I plant daffodils that they don't like to eat. The tulips are a crap shoot anyway, I'm in an area where they don't really naturalize. I just wanted to see I could get them to spring.
Kate, I am beyond thrilled that the white stuff is staying in the mountains where it belongs, three hours drive away. It is definitely too early for it.
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