Planting Narcissus

Oh beautiful Daffodils! Narcissus are in my top five flower, they are just so welcome after winter, sprint has truly arrived when they bloom. They are beautiful, some are scented so heavenly, they are reliable, not tasty or interesting to little critters, and easy to plant. I could not sing their praises loudly enough.

Spring bulbs have arrived! Typically you can plant narcissus from September to November (some even suggest August planting) and they flower generally in March and April outside. You can carefully select yours to bloom as early in the season as possible and across the months into late Spring. They can be planted in pots, into borders in your garden or into grasses to naturalise. They will slowly multiply over years and every few years it is advised that you dig them up and divide clumps of them to encourage health and flowering.

When you receive your narcissus from here, they will come in a paper envelope or bag. If not planted immediately I’d leave them in a cooler area and away from children and pets. I also open the packages and leave air to circulate. Narcissus can be planted now so it’s unlikely they’ll be too long in the boxes. I’d also recommend always wearing gloves when handling bulbs as some especially like hyacinths can cause skin irritations.

You can use a bulb planted like pictured above, it can be bought as a hand tool or it also can be found in full length which is what I use for planting into grass. I did try the hand tool version but as I was planting a few thousand last year, I had to admit it was going to take me a full month to plant them unless I splashed out for the full length version! If you are planting a small number a little hand shovel etc would do the job just as well.

You plant the daffodils pointy end up. I find most narcissus come with obvious roots (unlike tulips/alliums). If you lay out the bulbs it should be clear which way to face them. If unsure please do email me on bellmeadowireland@gmail.com. You plant them approx three times the length of the bulb or 10-15cm deep. Narcissus bulbs come in different sizes, last year I had some small and some very large, it’s just different varieties are shaped differently. But its best to check the size before digging the hole! Leave 3-4 inches at least between each bulb, pots can be closely and if you are naturalising in the grass I was going with 6in apart. As with most things in the garden/farm/pot it depends on how much space you have!

If you are planting in a border what has loose soil then you can make a hole, dig out the soil and pop the bulb in. Then recover with soil. If planting into grass then the bulb planter allows you to remove the grass and soil (reminds me of a golf ball hole but deeper), you pop the bulb in and then press the grass/soil back in on top. If you using a hand trowel/spade then I’d make a slit/hole and put the bulb in. After a season of growing you won’t even see where the holes are in the ground. If you are naturalising into grass it is important to ensure the leaves have a chance to die back in early summer before cutting the grass over them. Its also good to ensure the grass over the bulbs gets a good cut before winter, the less weight on top of the bulbs and it will reduce the places for slugs to hide in Spring. Below is my first year trial area and as you can see it missed its last grass cut in Autumn!

Once you plant them you can kind of ignore them! They are great for just growing, mice, rabbits do not like them at all, I’ve had incidents of them being a little dig up and clearly bitten and spat out, little chunks. I replanted and they grew just fine. I have been known to dig around them to make sure they grow but you’ll see shoots coming up over the grasses in the New Year and as they get used to your ground they come up a little early the following year!

If you have any questions or would like me to add more information do let me know.

Happy Growing

Maria