600 Daffodils

It is time to plant spring bulbs and I am finally getting around to it! I had ordered 600 daffodil bulbs from Van Engelen Inc. last spring, when I was thinking about it, and they arrived a couple weeks ago, just in time for planting. I got 400 all white ones for the Moonlight Garden and 200 pink ones to compliment the classic yellow ones in the perennial garden. I went to the nursery yesterday and bought large bags of cotton seed meal, bonemeal and blood meal to mix together to add to the holes when planting the bulbs. I have bought a variety of bulb planting tools over the years, but I find that the easiest way is to use a D handle spade and dig a hole about eight inches deep (the rule of thumb is to plant bulbs three times their height, deep), and six inches wide, sprinkle in a generous amount of fertilizer and then place three bulbs in the hole and cover. I typically plant winter annuals over the top to cover the dirt while waiting for the bulbs to emerge. Daffodils do not need chilling and naturalize easily, multiplying each year in our climate. I have hundreds, maybe thousands in the Laguna garden that were planted many years ago and they never disappoint each spring. This gives me lots to look forward to next year!