Hello all,
I'm a total newbie to bulb gardening and would like to start getting ready to plant an approximately 70-80 sq foot bed in my courtyard. I've had a blast reading up on the process over the last few weeks and have the feeling you've got a new bulb head on your hands, but I want to make sure I'm setting myself up for success as much as possible. As fun as it is to look through the catalogues and dream, I know there's planning and a lot of work involved in making that happen.
I'm tentatively looking at putting in some daffodils, tulips, alliums, bluebells (for some shadier spots), and maybe an early mix (crocus, etc). When possible I've picked out a mix of early, mid, and late bloomers.
I'm in region 7b, so I imagine I'll plant in late November or early December, which might mean some time in the fridge for at least some of the bulbs.
I'd like to try to plant so that the entire bed has growth throughout the season (as much as nature will allow), and I've read up on some general approaches to planting, but I was wondering what your approaches to laying out/spacing bulbs are? If I want to orchestrate "waves" of blooms during the season, is there a certain way I should place bulbs with different bloom times? Next to each other, on top of each other ("lasanga" method)...?
Also, I'm planning to test the ph of the soil there, and once I know what I'm dealing with, amend as needed. Any tips on that would be appreciated as well.
