Farmers Weekly Review

With this extended warm weather, and more forecast through Thanksgiving week, gardeners still have time to add some additional plantings for spring beauty — bulbs.
I always think of bulbs as a good lesson in long-term gratification. Plant what looks like a dried-up onion now for amazing spring flowers, before any of our other plants are even thinking about waking up.
But as with all things gardening, there are a few tips and nuances to learn to be sure you get the most of your bulbs.
The most important thing to know is the basic longevity of different types of bulbs. Although bulbs are planted with the promise of beauty for years to come, they aren’t quite the Ron Popeil (Mr. “set it and forget it”) of the garden.
Some bulbs do follow the Popeil mantra. Take daffodils. Plant daffodils now, and you can get over 10 years of increasing bloom each year without doing a thing. As long as they get mostly full sun. Tulips, on the other hand, usually give a few years of good bloom, with the first couple years being the most spectacular. Then tulips start to decline, and new tulips need to be planted. But why?
Daffodils are considered to be more perennial. Each year, they multiply and produce more blooms. Tulips, which often are more preferred over daffodils due to their many choices of colors and petal formations, aren’t as hardy.
The other reason daffodils seem to reign supreme is their toxicity. Now don’t go running outside trying to dig out every daffodil you have ever planted. There are many plants that are poisonous. And I don’t mean poisonous to the touch like poison ivy. But poisonous to consume.
I once had a family call me because a new mother wanted information on how to get her mother to eradicate every plant that was poisonous from her yard before she brought her infant to her home. It took a lot of convincing that there was little concern, and her mom could keep her garden as it is.
Many of the plants we have in our landscapes are poisonous. Take tomatoes, the number one home gardening vegetable. Fruit delicious and healthy to consume. Leaves? Well not so much, because tomatoes are a part of the nightshade (or Solanaceae) family and are toxic to eat. I still wonder historically how that ever so important difference was figured out?
But back to the daffodils. I know you weren’t planning on putting any bulbs on your spring menu, but you know who does? Wildlife, particularly the fuzzy bulb nemesis — squirrels. Each spring, I get many calls about how the squirrels have gone through the entire beautiful bulb bed of a homeowner and has eaten every single tulip — but upon closer examination, haven’t touched the daffodils. Case closed.
Now that is not to say that gardeners haven’t tried every possible solution to keep a nice stand of tulips, in spite of the squirrels’ plans. There are several bulb taste-deterrents where you soak the bulbs before planting. The problem here is that by spring, that taste deterrent is no longer strong enough to deter the squirrels.
Some people go to the extreme and build a cage, kind of like a mini Stateville prison, for their bulbs underground. This is somewhat effective if you have vole problems. Voles are small, mouselike creatures that are active in the winter months. They are vegetarians and can eat bulbs before they even have a chance to grow one season. So for these bulb pests, the cage is successful.
But not so much for the squirrels who dine above ground. You can use above-ground wildlife deterrent sprays, like Liquid Fence or others. There is a caveat, however: Once you spray a wildlife deterrent on your plants (and of course never to be used on edibles), you might not want to pick a bouquet to bring in, because these taste deterrents are made up of some putrid ingredients, like rotten eggs.
Nothing says spring like a beautiful holiday ham with all the fixins, but a rotten egg-smelling bouquet? No. Some people choose to lose the battle with squirrels when it comes to tulips, but win the war and plant several different varieties of daffodils.
And there are so many varieties available now. Even at your local big box store. I particularly like the miniature daffodil varieties like Minnow or Tete a tete. These smaller blooms win out because they have several blooms on each stem.
Another thing to consider is the season of bloom of spring bulbs. You know I am always harping on this idea when it comes to pollinators and landscape design. You always want something in bloom — both for you and for the nectar-loving pollinators we are trying to support.
Many people think bulbs are not seasonal. Not true. You can have blooms as early as February with the diminutive snow crocus. This is one of my favorite minor bulbs — smaller and not the wowza, big bloom, but subtle and delicate.
Snow crocuses are an heirloom crocus with smaller, star-shaped blooms that are very tough given their diminutive size. These are great to take a handful of bulbs and through them in your grass. Then plant wherever they land. They will brighten up your still dormant lawn in spring and will be done blooming by the time of the first mowing.
There are the giant crocuses, too, with beautiful colors, but I find their petals to be too weak to stand up to any snow or ice. So you can start with snow crocus blooming in February and go all the way to late May with the flowering alliums. These giant bulbs are stunning blooms bigger than your head.
Planting bulbs is simple. You plant them three times as deep as the bulb is tall. So, if you have a 2-inch daffodil, you should plant it 6 inches deep.
This year be sure to water the bulbs extra when planting if this fall drought continues. And in the spring, you will be amazed at the early beauty of all these spring flowers.