15 Comments
User's avatar
Alex Valk's avatar

This makes me feel much better about my perpetually late bulb planting habits! Why buy them now when they’ll be in the sale later? They’ll still all flower in spring! But then again I always regret it in December when I’m running out of time and it’s absolutely freezing. You might feel more smug about those daffs when it’s coming up to Christmas?

Expand full comment
Andrew Timothy O'Brien's avatar

Well i wont deny the smugness value is there, though I'm not sure its worth the tenderised paw! And i really enjoy that quiet, winter bulb planting energy, don't you? Even if it's cold. Doesn't snow much here in Kent, and rarely a really persistent ground frost. So yes, go us late bulb planters!

Expand full comment
Tricia Raney's avatar

Love this, thanks so much Andrew

Expand full comment
Andrew Timothy O'Brien's avatar

You're welcome Tricia! ✨🌱🙏🏼

Expand full comment
Julianne Robertson's avatar

I’m a late bulber too. I think it *increases* the satisfaction of seeing all those bulbs come up and flower beautifully in spring despite you having “broken the rules” of bulbing 😁 And can I heartily recommend replacing your bulb planter with a long handled one - this was a game changer for me and I couldn’t have planted a couple of hundred crocus bulbs into my front lawn without it!

Expand full comment
Andrew Timothy O'Brien's avatar

You know normally I don't see the point in a long handled bulb planter (you still have to then bend down to plant the bulb, unless you're a great shot!) but o must admit that while I was kneeling on my board and mangling the handheld one, I had a hankering for just such a thing!

Expand full comment
Julianne Robertson's avatar

It's worth a try - doesn't eliminate ALL labour from the process, but it definitely reduces it! I quite like the idea of aiming the bulbs at the hole from standing, mind you - a new garden game perhaps?! 🤔

Expand full comment
Andrew Timothy O'Brien's avatar

You know, I think that could catch on!!

Expand full comment
Eleanor's avatar

I listened rather than read this one - joyful! X

Expand full comment
Andrew Timothy O'Brien's avatar

So pleased you enjoyed it! ✨🌱🙏🏼

Expand full comment
Inanna's Daughter's avatar

I'm with you, always late. Though I've been placing tastefully selected drifts in online shopping baskets for weeks and walking away, I've spent hours looking at tasteful combinations of colour, height and flowering times. I know by the time mid winter arrives, the only thing that will keep my soul from leaving my body is that bulb delivery. In reality I'll end up with bargain, sprouting, leftover bulbs and a kettle of boiling water, trying to defrost a bag of compost and stuff them in a pot.

Expand full comment
Andrew Timothy O'Brien's avatar

This sounds entirely familiar, and also full of joy.

Expand full comment
STUDIO SCHIPPER's avatar

Laughing with a smidgen of schadefreude, because I’ve been there: 3 garden clients last year and me planning in a very organised professional way but not considering the rock hard lawn underfoot. With tree roots mixed in too.

Expand full comment
Andrew Timothy O'Brien's avatar

Ouch. Though to be fair, everything is better with a smidge of Schadenfreude, don't you find?

Expand full comment
STUDIO SCHIPPER's avatar

If you don't mind being laughed at, or with? As my mum used to say: I am not laughing AT you, I am laughing WITH you. Then there is also being laughed about...

Expand full comment