Things to do this time of the year: Planting bulbs.

There is one flower that even the scrawniest,  mad hungry, crazy deers won't eat:
The daffodils.
I have always dreamt about having a yard and now I am the proud owner of a big lot surrounded by woods.

Americans won't understand this, but in Italy, spotting an animal in an urban area, (aside from those winged rats we call pigeons) it's truly incredible.   

When my Italian friends come to visit my backyard they can't believe their eyes: there are squirrels, chipmunks, raccoons, bunnies and even deers. These critters can eat up a garden, BUT they won't touch the daffodils.

I've decided to plant some because this is what I want this spring:

Don't pick my flowers this spring or I'll eat you up!

 I want to live in this Richard Scarry's Illustration from the book: "I am a bunny", wouldn't you?
I, of course, didn't plant 200 bulbs like my overachiever neighbor, which WILL live in an illustration,  I tried to make it work with just 45.

Our very first bulbs!

We decided to plant clusters of 15 bulbs near our biggest trees and around the mail post.

You'll need three tools and a pair of gloves.

We used a shovel for digging the soil, a small gardening one and a bulb planter, borrowed from our very nice overachiever neighbor.

And a 5 year old, who will work willingly for 15 minutes.

The soil on our property hasn't seen much gardening for over 20 years. We had to start from scratch loosening the dirt and getting rid of the stones and that was hard, but satisfying. Also, by digging near the trees we had to deal with the roots, so we tried to go around them. 

Work it!

After prepping the soil we positioned the bulbs in a pattern placing them 4 fingers apart.

Happy bulbs in a pattern.

Then we proceeded to make a hole in the place we wanted the bulb to be, removed the dirt with the bulb planter and with the help of a small gardening shovel placed the bulb root side down deep inside the hole.

The bulb planter.

The happy bulb in his new home.

We covered the bulb with the soil and Ecco Fatto, now all we have to do is wait. They should come up by the beginning of spring.

The bulbs should produce flowers for a couple of seasons, but everyone's suggestion is to replant them every November.

Happy planting, this was a first for me!