For the Loveliest Look You Must Lift and Separate

It is the very end of the gardening season in central Massachusetts. The leaves are dropping from the trees, nights are cold enough to leave frost on the cars, and our neighbors in the Berkshire foothills got five inches of snow earlier this week. I am always sad to see the growing season end, but I have to look forward to springtime. This past spring, some of my daffodils sent up leaves without blooming. That is the classic sign that it is time to lift and separate the bulbs. Late fall is the perfect time to do that.

Here is the “before” picture of my front-yard bulb bed. Step one was removing the rock boarder from the bed. This gave me a good visual boundary for dirt removal.

The droopy bronze-leafed things are canna lilies that my friend, Joyce, gave me this spring. They are planted less deeply than the daffodils, so they came up first. I placed a pitchfork near the base of each plant and gently levered up the bulb. Oh my! Joyce warned me cannas multiply like rabbits and she was not joking. I might be sneaking around my friends’ houses this spring planting canna lilies. I trimmed the leaves from the canna lilies. These bulbs will winter over in the basement.

Before digging out the daffodils I raked away the layer of leaves from the bed. I was hoping for some dead foliage to mark where the bulbs were, but none were visible. I carefully dug out the dirt from the bed, hoping to avoid slicing into the bulbs. For the most part, I was successful. As I found the bulbs, I placed them into a bucket. I piled the dirt onto a tarp. Yes, the tarp is on top of my strawberries. No, that is not a problem. Strawberries are quite sturdy.

I kept on digging until I had a 4-5 inch deep trench, a bucket of bulbs, and a big pile of dirt. This is the perfect time to add some fertilizer. The bulb-specific stuff I bought noted that it should be used at or below the level of the bulbs. I sprinkled the prescribed amount into the trench then scratched it in with my long claw tool.

I laid the daffodil bulbs in the trench to get them spaced evenly, and replaced the dirt. My original plan was to scoot the tarp over to the trench and dump the dirt in, then spread it out with a rake. My attempt at scooting the tarp only succeeded in ripping the tarp. I did manage the get all that dirt back in, eventually. Next, I replaced the rock boarder.

Lastly, I replaced the fallen leaves, and even added some more from the area. A good layer of mulch will protect the soil (and the bulbs) from the inevitable freeze-thaw cycle of a New England winter. Too much freezing will kill the bulbs. Too much thawing will cause them to rot. I could have purchased mulch, but the leaves are free and will break down into more organic matter for my soil. That’s a win-win in my book. Also note that the strawberries, though a bit flattened, are just fine.

Here is what my bulb bed looks like now.

Prepping for next growing season definitely takes some of the sting out of the on-coming winter. What are you doing to prepare your garden for winter? If you live where the season is just starting, what are you doing to get your garden growing? Share in the comments!