It's still not too late to plant bulbs for spring flowers

I was at a big box store yesterday and noticed that there was a 50 percent off sign on all the spring blooming bulbs. I'm talking about tulips, daffodils, Dutch Iris, crocus, hyacinth and the like. I'm not sure if many people know this or not, but you can still plant these bulbs until the ground is frozen and you can't dig it anymore.

Let me tell you a true little story. Years ago when I lived out in the country, I didn't have that many bulbs in my garden that bloomed in the spring. Spring is one of my favorite times of year and when I see little bulb plants emerging from the soil after a long winter, it thrills me to the core. I realize that once again, spring is coming. Nothing reminds me of that more than seeing little bulbs popping up everywhere.

A few days before Thanksgiving many many years ago, I was at a hardware store getting some wood for a project. As I was getting ready to pay, I noticed a huge display of tulips, daffodils, etc., that were in these beautiful decorative color boxes and the sign said 75 percent off all spring bulbs. It was a cold and rainy day and I knew snow was coming soon, but the thought of planting bulbs and having a beautiful display the following spring made me disregard all my reasoning and common sense. I knew that the ground had not frozen yet, although we had already had several short snow storms that year. But I knew under the very thin layer of snow was fertile ground that was begging me for bulbs.

For some reason, I did not think logically (I was so excited about this bargain bounty in front of me) and I asked the manager how much for EVERY bulb they had left. Now, I'm talking there was about 200 boxes of assorted bulbs. In every box was smaller packages with 6-12 bulbs per package. You get the picture? It was a huge amount of bulbs that no one in their right mind would have the patience to plant when it is rainy, cold, blustery and down and out freezing outside. Well, bulb greed took over and I bought ALL of them and packed my old Subaru wagon to the ceiling with boxes of random bulbs. I knew they were all hardy for our area and figured if I did not plant them, they would just dry out and die in those packages and I did not want to have that on my conscience. I think I only paid about $55 for that whole car full of bulbs and I'm sure the regular retail price was somewhere around $400. I was so excited I could hardly drive home safely (partly because I could not see out of any of my windows with the bulbs stacked so high and blocking my view out the windows). I was giddy with excitement.

I had to unload them into the house that night because I was afraid that they would freeze and die in their boxes since it was supposed to be 18 degrees that night. I had to work the next few days and it was dark every day when I would get home from work. The next day off I had was Thanksgiving day. I planned to plant all these bulbs that morning after I got all my holiday deliciousness in the oven. I woke up early that morning and did all my cooking, put everything in the oven and got out my big rototiller that was really to big and heavy for me to manhandle. I fired up that baby and carefully rototilled about a 4-foot swatch of ground in front of my chicken coop (which was as big as the garage) and alongside and around the house and anywhere else I could find unobstructed ground. After the ground was turned up, I took a hoe and made trenches and started literally throwing the bulbs in the trenches. I did not care if they were right side up or not, I knew that gravity would turn them to the right side up, nature is good about that kind of thing. I emptied every one of those packages in those long trenches. It had started to snow and I put my hood on and just kept on going. I was freezing, wet, muddy and exhausted when I was finished covering up all the trenches with the trowel. The bulbs were tucked away for the winter and I knew they would do their magic to delight me in the spring. I cleaned up my box mess with all the individual bulb packages, cleaned myself off as much as I could and then walked into the house. As soon as the door opened, I was blown over at the lovely turkey smells that were rolling out of my kitchen. The kids had been in the house playing games and watching cartoons and looked up at me with concern. "Mommy are you OK?" My face was red and cold, my hands were freezing, my clothes were wet and muddy and I was quite a sight. I assured them I was fine and that I was going to take a hot bath and I would see them in a bit.

Long story short, we had a great Thanksgiving dinner with all the family. In the spring I had the most amazing display of every kind of spring bulb that you can imagine. I called up every friend I could think of to come and take a look at how pretty they were. I picked bouquets every day and gave them to anyone I came in contact with. I delivered bouquets to nursing homes and gave them to anyone and everyone I could. It was a glorious spring and I was so proud of my crazy Thanksgiving accomplishment.

The moral to this story: go buy some cheap bulbs at the box store, get your trenches or holes dug and plop those babies (bulbs) in the holes. You will be so proud and rewarded next spring. If you plan a little better than I did, you won't have to do all this work on Thanksgiving day.