In the midwest, haven't had a freeze yet, a ton of rain lately and expecting low 30's in the next 7 days.

Can I still plant bulbs?

Hope so, I already ordered them.

Thanks.

On 10/20/2011 7:39 AM, mkr5000 wrote:
In the midwest, haven't had a freeze yet, a ton of rain lately and expecting low 30's in the next 7 days.

Can I still plant bulbs?

Hope so, I already ordered them.

Thanks.

Yes, before the freeze is easiest although I've planted in Alaska when I
had to break an inch of frozen soil to do it and still had success. If the
ground is deeply saturated from the rain then some bulbs that demand
perfect drainage might have serious problems.

As for ordering bulbs, I put mine on order in late July or early August
when the distributors in the Netherlands put out their list for the season.
It is far cheaper to buy them in the smallest lots available from
commercial gardener's suppliers than though regular catalogs -- about 1/3
the price. When I am forced to buy 100 or more to get a price break and
can't plant them all I find a neighbor willing to accept a gift of free
bulbs -- it makes the neighborhood look better and I still save money in
the long run.

On Thu, 20 Oct 2011 09:30:40 -0400, John McGaw
wrote:

On 10/20/2011 7:39 AM, mkr5000 wrote:
In the midwest, haven't had a freeze yet, a ton of rain lately and expecting low 30's in the next 7 days.

Can I still plant bulbs?

Hope so, I already ordered them.

Thanks.

Yes, before the freeze is easiest although I've planted in Alaska when I
had to break an inch of frozen soil to do it and still had success. If the
ground is deeply saturated from the rain then some bulbs that demand
perfect drainage might have serious problems.

As for ordering bulbs, I put mine on order in late July or early August
when the distributors in the Netherlands put out their list for the season.
It is far cheaper to buy them in the smallest lots available from
commercial gardener's suppliers than though regular catalogs -- about 1/3
the price. When I am forced to buy 100 or more to get a price break and
can't plant them all I find a neighbor willing to accept a gift of free
bulbs -- it makes the neighborhood look better and I still save money in
the long run.

Here in NY I plant bulbs up until the first hard frost, but long
before that the large plant sellers like Lowe's, Home Depot, Walmart,
and others will have end of season clearance sales where they knock
off 75% on bulbs... last year I bought over 300 daffs at Lowe's for
under $30.

On 10/20/2011 10:16 AM, Brooklyn1 wrote:
On Thu, 20 Oct 2011 09:30:40 -0400, John
wrote:

On 10/20/2011 7:39 AM, mkr5000 wrote:
In the midwest, haven't had a freeze yet, a ton of rain lately and expecting low 30's in the next 7 days.

Can I still plant bulbs?

Hope so, I already ordered them.

Thanks.

Yes, before the freeze is easiest although I've planted in Alaska when I
had to break an inch of frozen soil to do it and still had success. If the
ground is deeply saturated from the rain then some bulbs that demand
perfect drainage might have serious problems.

As for ordering bulbs, I put mine on order in late July or early August
when the distributors in the Netherlands put out their list for the season.
It is far cheaper to buy them in the smallest lots available from
commercial gardener's suppliers than though regular catalogs -- about 1/3
the price. When I am forced to buy 100 or more to get a price break and
can't plant them all I find a neighbor willing to accept a gift of free
bulbs -- it makes the neighborhood look better and I still save money in
the long run.

Here in NY I plant bulbs up until the first hard frost, but long
before that the large plant sellers like Lowe's, Home Depot, Walmart,
and others will have end of season clearance sales where they knock
off 75% on bulbs... last year I bought over 300 daffs at Lowe's for
under $30.

Yeah. I've had luck a few times at closeouts but the predictability is bad
and finding any particular cultivar is impossible. I usually buy mine from
Van Engelen and species daffodils can cost as little as ~$65 for 250 Ice
Follies up to several times that for exotics. Their bulbs are also larger
and of a higher grade that anything I've seen at the borg. This company is
one of the few that seems to sell English Bluebells which is the reason I
first ordered from them. Everybody sells Spanish but I didn't _want_
Spanish, I wanted English.