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Daffodil Bulb Planting Techniques - Page 2

© Clay Higgins

I saw a raised garden used by a wheelchair bound gardener that was 30 inches high (cinder block, and brick in some locations), by 14 inches across, with varied lengths from four feet to 25 feet. All this garden was outside, and drained into the yard's natural soil below. The gardeners liked 30 inches high as they could lift themselves from the wheelchair and sit on the side of the bed to accomplish difficult tasks. The beds were separated by concrete sidewalks for the wheelchair to traverse without difficulty. This person raised great bulbs with no signs of basal rot from lack of drainage.

• Crushed Rock or Gravel

The most interesting beds that I have witnessed is one daffodil grower that used a back-hoe to dig out a bed about 25 feet long by 30 inches wide, with the installation of a drain pipe to a lower area that covered the entire length of the bed. Over the four inch drain pipe, this gardener put in six inches of "pea" gravel. Over the pea gravel was installed a layer of the black landscape cloth that allows water to seap through, but blocks grass from growing. Over the cloth is 24 inches in depth of top soil loaded with organic matter. She grows championship daffodils, and has no problems with bulb rot.

• Gran-i-grit and Modification of Such

When I first started growing daffodils, I noted that my white daffodils had a tendency to suffer and die from basal rot. It seems that white daffodils all suffer from this problem, and I was getting discouraged until I was told to put gravel or sand under each bulb. Technically, we are talking about putting a tiny "dry-well" under each bulb for drainage, even in raised beds.

I used a product called gran-i-grit, and another called chicken-grit (used for chicken growers as chickens need small rocks in their diet to help breakdown the food in their craws). Both products are fine rocks smaller than a pea. The technique I use for my show daffodils is that I make a whole with my drill motor and auger. Don't use the auger with a sweep on it, as it will not go deep enough. I use the eight inch auger that I drive into the bed about a foot deep. Next I fill the hole up to the planting depth with gran-i-grit, place in the bulb and cover. I've also used concrete gravel, pea gravel, granite dust, and construction sand in the same process and they all seem to work, but I like the small gran-i-grit type gravel best.

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