Planting Daffodils
Some will dig a trench, put in the bulbs and cover them. Others use a bulb planter that they push into the ground, and when lifted out, leaves a hole for the bulb. The planting is completed by taking the soil from the planter to refil the hole, now that the bulb is at the hole's bottom. Others, like myself, use an 18 inch auger on a drill motor. I find the auger faster and more efficient than the bulb planter.
In naturalizing bulbs in unimproved areas, the auger and bulb planter will do do, because the ground is too hard. When this happens, I often will use a shovel or pick-axe to break a hole, add the bulb and cove it. This method is specially important in an area with a high content of rocks, or when the ground is "super" hard.
How to Put the Bulbs into the Ground
The bulb planting methods that have been successfully used include the "clump," straight line "row," the "square," the "triangle," and others methods. The clump is used for naturalizing, or for those who want their daffodils to provide color or beautification for the yards. The row is generally used when planting five to seven daffodils or more of the same variety for show purposes. The square or triangle can be used to plant two to five daffodils.
The starting point is important to remember the names of show daffodils. Start from an identifiable point, such as a permanent plant, or landmark, such as a permanent marker. I use a piece of water pipe as a permanent marker, cut to length and pounded into the ground.
Clumps
The clump method is the simple process of planting bulbs together in small groupings. When I use this pattern, I usually imagine the five on a block of dominos, and make my pattern resemble that. However, I don't try to be that exact in measurements, but use the domino five as a guide. The clump produces a small "bouquet" of flowers. I've used this method to "mass" plant up to 200 bulbs to give a "massive" color spread in the spring.
Rows
The row or straight line is a time tested method. It doesn't matter the physical shape of the bed, square, rectangle or oblong. Plant the bulbs in a row six inches apart, in a straight line across the width of the bed, regardless of how many bulbs it takes to
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