Splitting allium bulbs and digging up the lawn

I think a major flaw in a bulb's existence is its need to be dug up some time after being planted.  Its hard enough work getting it in the first time without having to repeat the job.  Luckily I am of the opinion that allium bulbs are worth it, and it doesn't need doing every year thankfully.

You can see where the stem of one of the heads is still sticking out to guide me down, and the new babies this side

Several years ago, probably about five, the mother purchased a couple of allium bulbs and planted them in the garden. Two she planted in completely appropriate locations. One she did not. Right smack bang in the middle of what was to become my vegetable patch in the back garden. For the last four years I have had to plant my vegetables around it, leaving a little boundary round where I think it is every year and eating into valuable planting space. For the last two years I have threatened to dig it up to shift it, but this year I expanded my vegetable patch which moved it from at least being near the edge to literally in the middle. It had to go.

Four healthy sized bulbs where there was once only one

After an exceptionally heavy period of rainfall in September I felt the time was ripe and I started excavation work.  When the mother did her planting she did a sterling job, although it is also where I dump old soil from pots, but either way it was about a foot and a half deep. Achieving a depth of that magnitude in my garden usually requires the help of a pickaxe. And a lot of sweat. Sweat I most certainly did but finally I happened upon the bulb. Im not quite sure when the right time for splitting alliums is, but the stump of the stem was still in place to guide my digging so I wanted to get on with it.

The bulb had been busy making babies beneath the soil. In digging it to find the parameters I discovered it had made three great big extra bulbs ready for splitting. Bulbs need splitting up because they reproduce and then cramp each other out. What was once once allium has produced a couple of heads for the last couple of years so it definitely warranted doing before it got too carried away with itself.

My three bought summer drummer bulbs. Obviously these are dryer as they aren't fresh from the soil

There is something very satisfying about digging up a whole cluster of bulbs, especially when only one went in and after so many years. The photos are not exactly the most visually stimulating but if your a gardener I think you'll agree that such a find is a thrill. Less thrilling is the need to dig holes to replant. I promised the mother I would bury them in my chosen location at the same depth as they had first lovingly been planted. Did I heck! They will have to find their own way down to that kind of depth, but they are at a reasonable level. I have shifted them across to the other side of the vegetable patch to what is slowly becoming my allium section. While this meant losing a little from one edge, it is less space than where it was previously. Obviously I split the bulbs up and interspaced them with my spanish drummer bulbs that I bought at Hampton Court this year. I  comparison the summer drummer bulbs were huge.

The mixture of bulbs in their new holes. Not as deep as they were originally but this will do

With these repositioned I should have a really good display of alliums come next year, and all together on mass as well. Hopefully each individual bulb will produce a flower head. If so my numbers really will be bolstered!

My original vegetable patch, complete with one out-turned pot and a cracking weed at the back

While I am talking about the vegetable patch I thought I would share my expansion efforts. I dug up the surrounding lawn to provide and extra foot or two of space. This was the compromise between my parents and I, as I was super keen to put in for an allotment and the mother said she would rather I dug up the lawn, so I did. Hopefully this extra space will really help the broad bean and pea season as they are always hampered by the cramped conditions.

It may not be much but these extra few inches are precious to me