Deer helping with planting a garden?? What?! Yup, you heard it right! Unbeknownst to most of you Mr. Fix-it and I are making a dream come true-okay, I did let the cat out of the bag in Wednesday's post. The dream is to purchase a lot of land-enough so that we will not have any neighbors. We found the absolutely very close to perfect spot in the next county over recently and closed on the acreage this past Friday, 22 February 2013. (It would be perfect if it was already fenced)
Today's post is about the garden to be-and deer and daffodils and a non-gardening husband who loves me enough to try! The picture above is of Mr. Fix-it and is a classic picture of him. He is contemplating all the garden work to come-of which I believe he is fervently hoping he is not involved in! That is not to be! Please look around the area where he is standing-look carefully. What do you see? A field that is overgrown and plum full of weeds, briar, and who knows what else. Then, look closer and you might notice some cleared areas. Do you know what could have possibly cleared the area? I'll give you a clue-it leaves lots of scat and likes to eat gardens. It is deer of course!
In my haste to move my garden from Old Tiger Gardens to the new Tiger Gardens, I decided to begin digging daffodils. Big mistake. I began digging the daffodils (approximately 1000-1200 bulbs of one kind-'King Alfred') prior to thinking about how hard it would be to plant them in the large uncleared field near where our home will eventually be built. It was a "WHAT WAS I THINKING MOMENT" when I realized it would be difficult at best to plant the bulbs prior to us clearing the field. Nonetheless, the bulbs were dug and really needed to be planted. So, into the truck we go to plant the bulbs-hi ho hi ho HI HO! The bulbs pictured above are not even half of the type I dug and I have three or four or five other types to still dig! OMG! I guess I've done a pretty good job of multiplying the daffodils here in Tiger Gardens because I never would've thought the count would be so high.
And just how do I know how many bulbs I dug and replanted? My garden helper Mr. Fix-it was my divider and conqueror. His job was to separate the clumps and lay them in the very overgrown field. While doing this he had to count the bulbs. Laying them in the field for planting did not go as I had hoped. Again, I did not consider the fact that the field was overgrown and would be virtually impossible to plant. Just look at all of the plant matter Mr. Fix-it is standing on. It is thick and strong.
Our solution was to use the trails and bed down areas the deer had 'so thoughtfully' prepared for us. This type of planting may turn out to be a mistake in the long run because even though the bulbs are massed they pretty much follow trails--so they are randomly massed. I may go back and fill in all the blanks where we could not plant or perhaps leave it as is. There are more bulbs coming after the field is cleared so I'll have to see how it all works out with the varieties I still have to move. But, if I decide to keep the 'King Alfreds' simply as they are planted in the deer trails, Mr. Fix-it and I will forever have a good memory of the property where the deer roamed....
in the garden...
The count for daffodils planted on our land to date is: 800 Division 1 (trumpet style daffodils), a 'King Alfred' type daffodil planted the weekend of 16 & 17 February; 50 'Rip Van Winkle' Division 4 (double daffodil), and 10 'Ice Follies' Division 2 (large cupped) planted yesterday. The garden move has begun! Wish us luck!
Don't forget my drawing tomorrow for likes on my Facebook page. I'll post the winner Wednesday on this blog, but will publicly post the winner's name on my FaceBook page once I have made contact with the person. It's not too late to like my page and get the chance to win a prize!