I need to know if I can plant my bulbs now. . . . . is it too late??. . . will the almost never-ending rain cause them to rot, instead of blooming in the spring??
I INTENDED on planting my bulbs (daffodil, hyacinth and allium) in mid-october. . but then rained almost non-stop for 2 weeks (thaqniks, hurricane whatever-your name was) and I waited for the soil to dry out - first one week (still soggy) then another week (today, it LOOKS dry but itsd wet about 2 inches beneath the surface). The Nat'l Weather Service's 7-day forecast, predicts showers and raion every day for the next week. :(
Shouild I wait??? Should I plant them in between showers??? If I don't get them planted this fall, will they die???
Oh, what should I do????
Bulb planting question
It is definitely not too late. I am in zone 5a, and I am planting mine this week. You can plant bulbs as long as the ground isn't frozen. My guess is that you have at least three more weeks.
Ha! I just found an article from North Carolina Extension dated September 25 - and they said it was too early! So.. I definitely think you have more time, especially since it is just about perfect time here!
Donna
I am SOO relieved!!!!! Thank-you!!!
I am very happy to help someone as nice as you.
Still planting, here!
Hope they all bloom beautifully for you this spring. :-)
One year I received some mail order bulbs late plus I bought some bags of bulbs from a big box store that I didn't have a chance to plant...then we had an early freeze.
I was determined not to waste them so my wonderful husband said he'd help me get them in the ground. The soil was semi-frozen so he grabbed a shovel and a pick axe (yes, a pick axe) and together we did the unthinkable. We chopped up the semi-frozen soil, put bulbs wherever we could fit them and covered them with chunks of the semi-frozen soil.
We didn't expect them to grow, but the alternative was pots, which we had way too many bulbs for, or letting them rot and throwing them away.
Guess what? They grew and thrived and all the perennial ones are still growing about 8 years later!
That's when I realized that bulbs are hardier than most people realize.
Obviously that's not the right way to plant bulbs and it's not particularly good for the soil, but it showed me that things don't always have to be perfect to get good results.
Nutsaboutnature,
What a great story!
I am in your zone and I have planted bulbs when it was so cold that tears ran down my face, but never like that. Your husband must be an absolutely wonderful person, and you must be a fabulous person that he would do that for you.
Donna
Thanks Donna!
That's really sweet of you to say (made me blush a little). I don't think I do anything special, I guess I'm just a lucky girl :o)
I'm sure the bulb "experts" would cringe if they read the way we planted that year, but you do-what-you-have-to-do and I'm too cheap to let healthy bulbs go to waste.