Planting Spring bulbs

The first layer-narcissus, the mother really likes to nestle the bulbs down into the compost by gently screwing their bums down into the soil to they are snuggly nestled in

So bulbs all chosen its time to discover how the master (the mother) manages to cram so many bulbs into one pot.  Yes, all those bulbs I featured in my last post are going into just the one pot.  You may think, thats clearly not going to work, but it will!   All that is needed is a large pot, a bag of compost and, a billion bulbs, and a furry little helper.  Oh and the sun, she never plants this pot unless it is a sunny day and on cue ten minutes in, out it popped.

Any time your doing anything in the garden, the puss has to muddle in

Yes she always likes to get involved and at this time of year sitting on the patio would result in a cold bottom, so she snuck onto the compost bag while the mother nipped off to do something.  The way this works is the mother writes on the front the depth in inches the bulb would find preferable, then basically totally ignores it.  There simply isn't room to put them all in at their own desired depths, with enough soil at the top and bottom and between each layer, so the depths are taken with a pinch of salt.

One naked Tangerine Dream who accidentally got shucked during the planting process.  Rather than leave the shucking in the pot the mother felt the need to clear it out, because she likes 'a tidy pot'  

So a nice wedge of compost went into the bottom of the pot, then the narcissus as they wanted six inches,  then the tangerine dream tulips went in on top of a thin layer of compost.
The Shogun and Gavota tulips both wanted to be at three inches so they had to endure sharing the same layer, lets hope they don't mind sharing the bed, as it were.  The section on the packet describing the distance to leave between each bulb and the next has to be completely ignored at this point because those bulbs have to really get in there, rub shoulders and snuggle.

Shogun and Gavota tulips 

The essence of this is a little like putting nuts in a layer cake.  Again the crocus and muscari had to share a layer two inches from the top, cramming in tight, but they will be fine.  I know it looks like there wont be room for the lower bulbs to fight their way through the tightly packed upper layers, but somehow they do, don't ask me how.  You may think why not spread the bulbs out amongst several pots, but thats the real joy of the mother's spring pot.  It bursts out, a riot of textures and colours, and it is impossible to part the upper layers to see the soil below.  Im not actually much of a traditional 'spring bulb' fan, although they are slowly winning me round, but in context of this pot I do think they work really well.  More in this case, is definitely more.

Thats a lot of bulbs to fit into a layer but we managed it, crocus and muscari

The finishing touch to the pot is a nice layer of pansies on the top to give colour all through the winter until the bulbs pop out.  Again, not a real fan of the pansy as a plant generally, but these 'citrus mix' in bright yellow, cream, orange and white where so bright and cheery, I relented and allowed them in.  I find pansies very uninspiring, but the mother rummaged through the whole display to find a pack with one of every colour and now they are planted they don't seem too bad.  At this point we should just be sitting back and waiting for the spring, but something is sprouting up little green snouts out of the soil, not the plan so I will keep a beady eye on what the bulbs think they are doing.

The pansies, although not really flowering at this point at least add a bit of green, because pictures down into a pot of bulbs in soil are only so interesting

And finally a treat, and another bit of green, this little guy was wandering across my compost clearly off to somewhere