Precocious Daffodil Bulb- Fall Planting Narcissus

Description

Giving your daffodils a good start at planting time will give you the best blooms. If your soil is compacted break it up with a garden fork and work in plenty of organic matter such as well-rotted manure or compost. Daffodils like a moist but free draining soil. Choose a sunny or semi-shaded spot which receives at least 3 hours of sun per day; daffodils won’t flower in heavy shade. If flowering is poor you can top-dress the soil around your daffodils with a slow-release bulb fertilizer each spring. Simply sprinkle the fertilizer around the soil at the base of the leaves. Plant your daffodil bulbs with the pointed end facing upwards at a depth of about 10cm (4in). Deep planting is important to prevent the bulbs dividing and producing lots of small bulbs which won’t flower. Space them about two bulb-widths apart.

Naturalizing

Daffodils are well suited to naturalizing in areas of lawn or rough grass. When planting in grass, try not to lay out the bulbs too neatly as this spoil the natural effect, use a bulb planter to remove a core of turf, before placing the bulb inside and covering back over. Take care not to mow these areas of grass until June or July to allow the foliage to die down and build the bulb up for next year.

 In containers

All Daffodils can be grown in containers, the same rules apply as for planting in the ground, planting about 10cm (4in) deep. When growing daffodils in pots, they can be placed much closer together than normal, to give a fuller display. Space them about one bulb-width apart.

 Dead-head after flowering

If you didn’t use your daffodils for cut flowers, it’s a good idea to dead-head them once the flowers fade. This prevents the plants wasting energy forming seeds; and prevents daffodil blindness which is when the leaves appear each spring but the plants do not flower.