Experiment with daffs

I've finally started on the front garden - dug out a shallow trench around the edge of the 'lawn' - didn't bother planting the daffs root side down - just threw them randomly into the trench and filled back in.

On Gardners World (last one for 2015 ) saw Monty simply place some bulbs randomly on the ground and cover with leaf mould.

I wonder what will happen next Spring .

 

They will flower underground and the roots will grow towards the moon.

 

Next years flowers are already stored in the bulbs so you will probably have some flowers.
I should imagine that some of the bulbs will correct themselves once they start rooting, but, any that are upside down or heading in that direction I would think will just rot away.
However, you say you only dug a shallow trench, Daffodils should be planted with around 4" of soil above them. This will mean that they will come up " blind " in future years, meaning you will get leaves but no flowers.

I didn't see the episode you are talking about ( personally I won't watch it while he is presenting it ), but I think he may have been planting something smaller than a Daffodil/Narcissus.

Personally I think actions such as this are irresponsible. It shows that the person doing these actions shows no respect for the person/company that has taken the time to grow these bulbs to a satisfactory size and quality throughout the previous season.

 

They were small bulbs, between the size of a 5 pence and 20 pence. I cant actually remember what they were

What he was showing/doing was that the soil around his orchard area under the trees was bone dry and you couldn't get a trowel through the soil. He placed a few of these bulbs on the surface and covered with a generous layer of leaf mould. They were buried with the correct amount on top.

Just out of curiosity, why don't you like Monty?

 

this Monty person. don't listen to him.

 

Hi Craig,

Perhaps he was planting something like Aconites or hardy Cyclamen.

As for Monty Don, where do I begin Lol

Here are a few instances from the internet.....

April 2010
Monty Don in trouble after saying it was time to plant Lily bulbs. He was then shown throwing the bulbs onto the ground and then moving onto another segment of the show without giving any of the necessary/relevant details.

May 2012
Monty Don is embroiled in a row with his BBC employers after refusing to follow advice to make viewers aware of non organic products. Just because Mr Don is an organic gardener does not mean that his views should be forced upon everyone else.

October 2012
Monty Don in trouble again for showing how to put Dahlias to bed for the Winter without saying that he was doing it early due to the programming schedule and that it shouldn't be done until the frosts have started to blacken them.

April 2013...
Garden centres lose approximately £50 million worth of spring bedding etc after Monty Don advises gardeners not to bother planting anything ir sowing any seed till the beginning of May.

I much prefer The Beechgrove Garden .

I'm sorry I can't put a link up but if you google

" Is the Beechgrove Garden really better than Gardeners World"
( underneath it says
helengazey.typepad.co.uk/.../is... 28 Aug 2014 )

you'll come across an excellent comparison featuring the pro's and con's of both shows.

May 2015
On the subject of bee-keeping
From the British Bee Keepers Association....... " Usual rubbish by badly researchedtv company and its presenter ".

Apparently he was telling people to contact the BBKA to obtain free hives and swarms but not to join the association. He then gave a very disjointed method of bee-keeping.
One representative of the BBKA said " Although I applaud his desires I am not convinced that his methods will be rewarded with anything other than a lot of dead insects ".

EDIT...... Sorry I've put the last two paragraphs in the wrong order.

 

ahh ok, fair enough

i have both the Beechgrove Garden and Gardeners World set to record each week

I enjoy both.

I enjoy the imagery more than anything. I like to see the gardens and veg develop over the course of the year. I tend to get my advice on plants on the internet, on here mainly!

I think that's why i love watching 'Harvest'. Just simply watching the farmers start at the beginning of the year sowing seed to the end product at the supermarket and the process the food goes through.

 

THIS

Monty told people to protect their Phormiums, yes Phormiums which are hard as nails and almost impossible to killl or remove once established.

 

I like Monty but you learn so much more from the Beechgrove. Its just a shame we only get an hour of gardening for a short season and have to suffer millions of hours of cooking and antiques programmes instead.

 

Wee Tam. Oh, so true.

 

come to think about it, I cannot even recall a gardening show over here.

 

Must be honest, I also take a lot of what Monty says with a pinch of salt. A lot of his ideas are "interesting".
But to his credit, when he plants something, and it fails, he admits it.

 

I am a total beginner gardener. So I get a benefit from both shows. I don't really like watching those features much where they go to random peoples gardens and look at their specialist setup, it isn't relevant to me right now.
I would much prefer a gardening show that is purely for the average gardener and what I would expect to do myself.

I did like watching the big allotment challenge though too, it gives me ideas on what I can grow that year and then also what to make with them. It is a shame it isnt coming back for a 3rd series, I cant imagine it cost that much to make.

 

Well, with the bizarre weather we've been having, there in no need to wait until Spring - the bulbs thrown into the groud all higgledy piggledy are poking through the soil - so they find their own way up.

Looking around here - some daffs are already out in full bloom - which is nice - but bodes for a rather dull Spring when it finally arrives.