If you do not have such garden soil, dig quite large holes with your trowel, and fill them with such a mixture. If you do not have well-rotted manure, use a sprinkling of bone meal.
A good rule for the depth to plant bulbs is twice their length; but sometimes it pays to plant them deeper to protect them.
If planted deeper they come into bloom a little later, but the protection of the depth may save them from destructive freezing.
Blooms of bulbs look beautiful anywhere. One need not hesitate to place them in masses (a number near each other) in the garden borders, for after they bloom and die down, there will be no bare spots if some annuals, with short roots, are grown over them; such as alyssum, ageratum, violas, verbenas.
Plant the low-growing sorts of bulbs in the front, and the taller kinds in the back of the garden.
Cover, when the ground begins to freeze, with several inches of dry leaves or grass.
Most bulbs do best if not lifted after blooming; that is, let them be in the ground for several years. Then the new bulbs which have grown on the old ones will need to be separated and planted.
Narcissus and daffodils may remain many years without disturbing.
Hyacinths do not do as well as other out-door hardy bulbs, becoming less vigorous each year. They do a little better if the bulbs are lifted and dried in the Summer and replaced in the Fall.
One caution is necessary: after they are through blooming, wait until the green leaves turn yellow before cutting the grass. If the leaves are cut before they turn, the bulbs will die.
Nowhere else do such flowers look so beautiful as in the grass.
To plant small bulbs, such as crocus, dig holes in the turf with an apple-corer, or with a “dibble,” which is a pointed stick. Throw in a tiny bit of bone meal and some sand. After placing the bulb, being certain to put the root end down, and the pointed top up, cover with sand and pack the turf firmly back in place.
A better way is to lift the turf with a spade. Dig, to loosen up the soil; add a little bone meal; plant bulbs, replace sod.
To place them in an artistic position, throw down a handful and plant where they fall.
“GOOD!” Bob approved as Billy paused, “that’s a splendid lecture, Bill.”