September bulbs

September is daffodil planting time! Whilst the soil is warm it is a good time to get them in the ground in order for them to put down some decent root growth before the cold hits and they go dormant. 

We've chosen a picking garden mix which gives us a selection of different narcissus, varying shape, size and colour. This should provide great variety for early bouquets at the tail end of winter. We've also gone with a variety called 'Yazz' which is a multi-headed variety (so multiple flower heads on one stem) This bulb will hopefully bring a little extra to the bouquets with something you possibly haven't seen before.

We planted a LOT of bulbs. Nearly 300...let's hope they pay off.

 

Why bother with daffodils?

Who doesn't love a daffodil? It's bright, sunny and cuts through the harshest of winter weather to make you believe spring is on its way. It also gives us the opportunity to create some bouquets early in the year and start meeting customers and building the brand.

We are aiming to pair the daffodils with hellebores, ranunculus and possibly anemones if they're ready and then hoping that some of the tulips we have planned will overlap with the narcissus too. We're planting honesty as a filler but as with most best laid plans, we've realised this probably won't be ready to crop until 2028 so to compliment the early spring harvests we will be using foliage from around the arm. Keeping it seasonal and fresh.

We learned the hard way...

We got a little carried away with mulching the soil and had to rejig our plans for where we wanted to plant the daffodils. Obviously once they're in, they're in, we don't ever move this crop as long as they flower each year. So we need to get it right. Luckily we hadn't spread manure everywhere so we caught our mistake early and the daffodils have gone into untreated ground. Hoping we got our facts right and they do well come spring...keeping everything crossed.

Next up, seed planting time!