Yes, yes, I've been neglecting this blog. Well, what can you do. Working is such an impediment to doing nothing all day.
That being said, I have photos, which I haven't sorted in weeks, and things that have bloomed, and things that have failed, and other things to tell you about, when I get around to it. But what I did though, I bought some bulbs. I mean other than the good bulbs I ordered from Veseys in August. Speaking of which, they charged my credit card on September 12 and I don't have my bulbs yet. I should email them and see what's happening.
Anyway. So I was at the hardware store to buy some Pine Sol, and to get to the till, I have to walk past the garden section. I assumed this was safe, since gardening is over for the year, so I glanced at the shelves as I walked past.
Hmmmm... That was a mistake.
On the shelves, they had these cute little bags of fall bulbs. An assortment of 60 fall bulbs in matching colours, the dominant colour being indicated by the colour of the gingham pattern on the bag. Very cute. Very dumb way to buy bulbs, but very cute. And also, very cheap. Also a good sign that it's a dumb way to buy bulbs, but what can you do... They were on sale for $14.97. That's about $0.25 a bulb. How bad can it be, really, for $0.25 a bulb? I buy seeds more expensive than that.
Ok, so I bought one bag. Pink. I'm not a pink kind of person, but the pink assortment was the prettiest. Then I put it in the fridge because I had other things to do. But keeping bulbs in a plastic bag is bad, so today I decided to plant half, store the other half the "right" way in the fridge. Of course some people will tell you that you can't keep bulbs in the fridge over the winter, but it's my garden, I do whatever the heck I please.
I opened the bag and immediately I smell mold.
CRAP!!!
Well, what can you expect when you buy a bag of bulbs off a store shelf for $14.97?
In the bag, there were:
8 daffodils "Salome", white and pink - four seemed sound
8 tulips "Angelique" - 7 were sound
14 chionodoxa "pink giant" - 2 were sound
30 alliums "ostrowskianum" - 7 were sound
Hmmmm... To be honest, I'm not sad about the alliums and the chionodoxa, as I don't fancy the former and had never heard of the latter before. But the tulips and the daffodils are really quite pretty in the photo. I hope some of them grow.
Next, planting. As you know, I follow none of the planting instructions, but bulbs are different. I read the planting depth and actually attempted to plant as recommended. Not as to spacing, of course. Overcrowding is the rule in my planters. But I did dig into the Jungle to a depth of about 6", as indicated for my tulips and daffodils, and set the bulbs pointy side up, and then added some manure on top. Now you'd think, the Jungle being already grossly overcrowded, I'd be destroying other plants' roots by doing this, but not really. You see, most of the plants in the middle never even sprouted, so it has a big bald spot, and I ripped up all the daisies weeks ago, so there is room there, and the poppies and other escapees that are leaning through the railing never grew deep roots, either because they're annuals or they weren't getting enough water. Don't matter to me either way. I dug under their roots. In some places I also dug under the hollyhocks, which are perennials and therefore I would like not to kill, but on the other hand, they haven't flowered, so bollocks to them.
After I had replaced the dirt over the daffodils and tulips, I poked holes with my index finger and planted the tiny allium and chionodoxa bulbs in those. Then I added a pile of manure on top. I didn't want to put in any new soil, because the Jungle has the advantage of not being troubled by fungus, whereas some of the other soil may or may not be contaminated. But I needed more cover, and also, I've had the same soil in there for three seasons, so it could use manure.
Then I watered.
Then, we'll have to see in the spring if anything comes up.
For greater certainty, I bought a bag of batt insulation today. One of the hardware stores in town is doing renos and needs every single item of inventory gone from the premises this week, so everything's on sale and their ad said "no reasonable offer refused." I was hoping to make a completely unreasonable offer on a Makita cordless drill, but they had no cordless drills of any brand. They did, however, have quite a lot of batt left, in particular a damaged bag of "acoustic" insulation that they couldn't move and were glad to part with for $10 (down from $35 or so). "Acoustic" isn't noticeably different from "thermal" fiberglass batt, it's just not R-rated. So now I have a nice big bag of insulation for the winter. I also need an insulated tarp and some rope, but that's not urgent. Winter isn't for a month yet.
I do hope my expensive bulbs come from Veseys thought. They were really quite nice bulbs.
That being said, I have photos, which I haven't sorted in weeks, and things that have bloomed, and things that have failed, and other things to tell you about, when I get around to it. But what I did though, I bought some bulbs. I mean other than the good bulbs I ordered from Veseys in August. Speaking of which, they charged my credit card on September 12 and I don't have my bulbs yet. I should email them and see what's happening.
Anyway. So I was at the hardware store to buy some Pine Sol, and to get to the till, I have to walk past the garden section. I assumed this was safe, since gardening is over for the year, so I glanced at the shelves as I walked past.
Hmmmm... That was a mistake.
On the shelves, they had these cute little bags of fall bulbs. An assortment of 60 fall bulbs in matching colours, the dominant colour being indicated by the colour of the gingham pattern on the bag. Very cute. Very dumb way to buy bulbs, but very cute. And also, very cheap. Also a good sign that it's a dumb way to buy bulbs, but what can you do... They were on sale for $14.97. That's about $0.25 a bulb. How bad can it be, really, for $0.25 a bulb? I buy seeds more expensive than that.
Ok, so I bought one bag. Pink. I'm not a pink kind of person, but the pink assortment was the prettiest. Then I put it in the fridge because I had other things to do. But keeping bulbs in a plastic bag is bad, so today I decided to plant half, store the other half the "right" way in the fridge. Of course some people will tell you that you can't keep bulbs in the fridge over the winter, but it's my garden, I do whatever the heck I please.
I opened the bag and immediately I smell mold.
CRAP!!!
Well, what can you expect when you buy a bag of bulbs off a store shelf for $14.97?
In the bag, there were:
8 daffodils "Salome", white and pink - four seemed sound
8 tulips "Angelique" - 7 were sound
14 chionodoxa "pink giant" - 2 were sound
30 alliums "ostrowskianum" - 7 were sound
Hmmmm... To be honest, I'm not sad about the alliums and the chionodoxa, as I don't fancy the former and had never heard of the latter before. But the tulips and the daffodils are really quite pretty in the photo. I hope some of them grow.
Next, planting. As you know, I follow none of the planting instructions, but bulbs are different. I read the planting depth and actually attempted to plant as recommended. Not as to spacing, of course. Overcrowding is the rule in my planters. But I did dig into the Jungle to a depth of about 6", as indicated for my tulips and daffodils, and set the bulbs pointy side up, and then added some manure on top. Now you'd think, the Jungle being already grossly overcrowded, I'd be destroying other plants' roots by doing this, but not really. You see, most of the plants in the middle never even sprouted, so it has a big bald spot, and I ripped up all the daisies weeks ago, so there is room there, and the poppies and other escapees that are leaning through the railing never grew deep roots, either because they're annuals or they weren't getting enough water. Don't matter to me either way. I dug under their roots. In some places I also dug under the hollyhocks, which are perennials and therefore I would like not to kill, but on the other hand, they haven't flowered, so bollocks to them.
After I had replaced the dirt over the daffodils and tulips, I poked holes with my index finger and planted the tiny allium and chionodoxa bulbs in those. Then I added a pile of manure on top. I didn't want to put in any new soil, because the Jungle has the advantage of not being troubled by fungus, whereas some of the other soil may or may not be contaminated. But I needed more cover, and also, I've had the same soil in there for three seasons, so it could use manure.
Then I watered.
Then, we'll have to see in the spring if anything comes up.
For greater certainty, I bought a bag of batt insulation today. One of the hardware stores in town is doing renos and needs every single item of inventory gone from the premises this week, so everything's on sale and their ad said "no reasonable offer refused." I was hoping to make a completely unreasonable offer on a Makita cordless drill, but they had no cordless drills of any brand. They did, however, have quite a lot of batt left, in particular a damaged bag of "acoustic" insulation that they couldn't move and were glad to part with for $10 (down from $35 or so). "Acoustic" isn't noticeably different from "thermal" fiberglass batt, it's just not R-rated. So now I have a nice big bag of insulation for the winter. I also need an insulated tarp and some rope, but that's not urgent. Winter isn't for a month yet.
I do hope my expensive bulbs come from Veseys thought. They were really quite nice bulbs.
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