This is the journal of my endeavours to grow a range of fruit, veg and flowers from seed, grow organically, and my attempts to create a personal paradise with 1/2 acre of maintained gardens and 1/2 acre wild meadows. Northern Ireland's average daily high temperatures are 18 °C (64 °F) in July and 6 °C (43 °F) in January. Soil type: Clay

Saturday 11 December 2010

Crocus and Narcissi bulbs

Our snow is gone! The big melt down started Friday and by Saturday all the snow in Belfast and in County Antrim where I live had gone. The temperature today was in the high 30sF (4C). It felt quite warm compared to what we'd had lately so I headed out into the garden to plant my bargain-buy spring bulbs.

Earlier in the week I popped into B&M (pound/dollar store) and I found that all their spring bulbs were marked down to 25p per bag. I thought this was a good buy as the packs are normally £1.99 or higher. (I imagine the quality will be ok.)
 




















I bought four different varieties; I'm not too sure what the difference is between a Specie crocus and a Botanical crocus & not bothered to google it. I was just thrilled I found some on sale! Varieties: Crocus Botanical Mixed (40 bulbs) which flower Feb-March; Crocus Large Flowering Purple (25 bulbs); Specie Crocus Mixed (75 bulbs) and Narcissi Minnow (30 bulbs). I'm a fan of the miniature daffodil/narcissi as they don't get damaged in the strong wind we get in early spring.
Working in the garden I spotted some crocus planted in previous years in one of my borders already coming through. Signs of Spring already!
The site supervisor, Jammie, oversees the bulb planting. She finds it hard to get her body and all her paws on the post.
Only a few days ago I was walking through snow - this is the view one morning as I was going to work.
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5 comments:

  1. Egretta Wells blog11 December 2010 at 13:11

    That bottom picture---What a beautiful sky! I like your site supervisor--seems to take his job quite seriously! I can't believe that under the snow there were crocus just waiting to pop through!

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  2. Hazel11 December 2010 at 14:21

    I feel the same way about the crocus. Signs of spring already! I love the seasons and the ebb and flo of garden life. You have much more ebb and flo than I do. :-)

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  3. Mark Willis11 December 2010 at 23:34

    Kelli, your photos just get better and better. 10/10 for the sunrise one; 10/10 for the Jammie one...
    It will be interesting to see whether there is any significant difference between the bargain bulbs you bought and the normal full-price ones. None, I suspect! I'm also a fan of the miniature Narcissi, for the same reason as you. I find that the taller ones just get beaten down by wind and rain.

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  4. Jo12 December 2010 at 00:43

    Your garden will be so colourful in spring when all those bulbs pop up. What a gorgeous sky photo.

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  5. Kelli15 December 2010 at 02:57

    Thanks for your comments! (I'm trying to improve my photography; we can have quite poor lighting in NI, suppose the rest of UK & Ireland is much the same).

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