Plant Daffodils

Daffodils consist of more than 50 species all told. When they spring forth, they dominate the season with their unmatched beauty. These flowers symbolize love and friendship and are quite easy and reliable to grow. You could have a smiling daffodil in your garden with little effort.

Steps

 * 1) Choose the right time to plant daffodil bulbs. The best time for planting is late summer or during autumn. The colder the area, the earlier you should plant the bulbs.
 * 2) Purchase daffodil bulbs from the nursery. You will have a lot of choice, so it pays to spend time doing research into which ones you find the most pleasing. You could either research using gardening books or by looking online, or you could do a reconnaissance visit to the nursery to figure out which ones you like the most, think it over and then return later to purchase.
 * 3) *You can also get good daffodil bulbs through division if you see that your neighbor or a friend has particularly good specimens that you'd enjoy in your garden.
 * 4) Select a good aspect. Daffodils grow best in a sunny spot. Provided they get winter sun, planting them under deciduous trees is fine as there won't be any leaves to cover the sun's rays during the time that the daffodils are growing.
 * 5) Prepare the soil. Daffodils like soil that is well drained and that has a lot of decaying organic matter in it (use your compost). It is important to have dug over the soil about a month prior to inserting the bulbs.
 * 6) Plant the bulbs. Larger bulbs will need to be dug in deeper than smaller ones. For larger bulbs, plant to a depth of about 8cm and keep space between each bulb to about 8–10cm. Smaller bulbs can be planted closer to the surface and more closely together.
 * 7) Water well upon planting. Once planted, however, leave off watering again until the first leaves emerge. Once the daffodil plant is growing strongly, water regularly.
 * 8) Fertilize well. Good fertilizers for daffodil bulbs include blood and bone mixes. After the flowers die off, it it important to give the plant a complete plant food to help the daffodils regenerate for the next season.

Warnings

 * Bulbs that appear to have any rot or mold on them should be destroyed. If this rot occurred while the daffodils were in the ground, avoid replanting daffodils in this area of the garden for 5 years. Bulbs can rot in storage if kept at too high a temperature for a long duration. They can also rot if the nitrogen levels in the soil are too high.