Experimental Gardening

Today was sunny and warm (mid 60's), so I planted tulips! I know we don't normally plant tulips in April here inthe US. They're supposed to be planted in the fall. I bought the bag of bulbs last fall, fully intending to plant them within a week. But the weather turned nasty earlier than usual so they didn't get planted.

I then resolved to plant them in February. Almost every February we get a week or two of beautiful, spring-like weather before winter weather returns for another 6-8 weeks. We got one week of almost-nice weather this February, but I totally forgot about the tulip bulbs. I spotted the bulbs last week and decided to try planting them soon as it quit raining and got above 45 degrees for awhile.

When I opened the bag today, I almost changed my mind. Although most of the bulbs had pale, yellowgreen shoots sprouting from them, showing that something was still alive, the bulbs themselves were really squishy. I wondered if it was worth the bother. In the spirit of "nothing ventured, nothing gained," I dumped the bulbs in an old planter, set them as upright as I could, and covered their heads with soil. They're not buried as deep as they should be, but they're certainly deeper than the forced tulip bulbs that the local grocery store was selling before Easter.

Now I get to play the waiting game to see what happens.