Bulb planting

Seafood!

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No a bulb actually. Eremus ‘Cleopatra’. Quite fabulous.

IMG_0426They look like a crabs. But if all goes well I will have tall spires of orange plants bursting out of the barn garden.

Unless the mole rat gets to them first. It’s a shame there isn’t a list that tells me which bulbs are repellant to all my wild creatures.

It has been a busy week. And starting with the best bit. Lunch with Andrew and collecting my monstrous order of bulbs.

200 x Allium purpureum
50 x Allium christophii
20 x Allium ‘Mont Blanc’
50 x Allium ‘Purple Sensation’
50 x Allium ‘Spider’
10 x Eremurus ‘Cleopatra’
50 x Gladiolus communis ssp byzantinus
950 x Muscari armeniacum
100 x Narcissus ‘Bridal Crown’
200 x Narcissus ‘ February Gold’
500 x Narcissus ‘Thalia’
50 x Tulip ‘White Triumphator’
50 x Tulip ‘Victoria’s Secret’

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Yes, that’s 500 thalias in the box. And 950 muscaris.

Tough work in this rock hard soil. It’s a combination of mattock, fork and if I’m lucky, trowel.

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I can use the trowel to get the muscaris in as they are smaller than the other bulbs. Most years they are the size of a fat chick pea. But this year the bulbs have bulked up rather alarmingly.

Good for the plants. But not for the planter.

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Still, it’s an investment in the future colour of the farm. The daffodils and muscari (some call them grape hyacinths) should keep on flowering if they are not grubbed up.

But the alliums and the tulips are an utter indulgence.  And I’ll try not to regret the purchase. For now, it’s back to the trowel.