Lin,
Everything is going to be ok, your daylilies will do just fine. You certainly have been working hard and it sounds like the area you've been digging isn't very friendly! But, all your hard work will pay off and you will have a beautiful garden.
Lrae

"I feel your pain," . . or something like that! I went through a similar experience three years ago when we moved into our current house. One side of the yard was just compacted soil which required a spading fork before a shovel would penetrate it. The other side of the yard must have been an old creek bed with thousands of rounded rocks ranging from half an inch to three inches about 3-4 inches below the surface - which the contractor had obviously brought in to hide what =was there. I ended up digging up that whole side bit by bit, putting it through a one-quarter inch hardware cloth screen, and then dumping it back in the hole (minus the rocks). Then I added peat and other organics to both sides and mixed that in (by hand - no rototiller!). Needless to say, I was exhausted for several nights, but I'll tell you this. Watching my daylilies grow in those beds has convinced me that I did the right thing and better yet, I don't have to think about doing it again. Just add some good organic mulch that breaks down over the year and mix what it left of it into the soil in the winter and add new mulch. By the number of worms I have in the soil, I know evereythig is doing well. I think you will see the same thing six months from now, but its hard to get past the exhaustion until you see those lilies blooming.
Good luck,
Larry

Now you know why I use pots and why other people used raised beds! I have a 100 or so in beds that I worked up like you did before I realized that I just could not keep it up. Especially for seedling beds. Some people are blessed with great soil, most are not.

I do continue to add compost, to the beds that I have already made, every year and they continue to improve, so don't give up on that. Also, know that you can hold new arrivals in buckets of water for several days without hurting anything. Just be sure they are in the shade and don't cover the crowns completely.

Now, just enjoy you results of your hard work.

Blessings, Mona

Thanks, everyone. What exactly is a raised bed? Mona, I was told by my daylilies' grower not to use the water for days here in Florida. He felt that could lead to rot. Maybe it's our climate? That's what I had thought of, feeling it would be the easiest. I had hoped to get moer into the ground tonight, but didn't feel I could leave my mom so early on Mother's Day. I hope my temporarily planted ones will be okay. I'm watering them by sprinkler system tonight.

Take a look at Shelly's raised beds at the link below.

I empathize with you. I've been installing my landscape over the past 4 years (see my members page for pix). So far (yes, I need more) I have put 2 dumptruck loads of composted sheep manure into the entire lot, tilling in about 3-4 inches into the top of it all. Good think I hire a friend to help with the heaviest work. No way I could do it all by myself.

One area the contractor filled with gravel/sand mix. I have been raking rocks out of there for 2 years and still need to use the screening method that Larry described. My grandfather used to make a frame that had longer handles on each end and then put hardware cloth or fine wire screen across it. That way you can lean one end against a wheelbarrow, then put a couple shovels of dirt on the screen, pick up the other end and shake the dirt through, then lift it up high to dump the remaining rocks into the wheelbarrow. I won't worry about this so much where I'm laying sod (part of this years project) but will do this in the flower beds.

Here is a link that might be useful: shelly's raised beds in seedling thread

I went outside and tried to dig in the flower bed by myself. I just could not get it deep or big enough, the ground is so hard. I am so worried about my daylilies. I have them in little mounds with their roots with dirt over them and I've watered them, but they are not really planted formally. My friend's son who is helping me can't come over til Wednesday. I hope they will be okay. Any suggestions.

Lin,
They will be ok with their roots covered. Don't overwater though. When I plant or pot a daylily I water it once, heavily, and then I don't water again until I see new growth started. (Sometimes it's really hard, seems like it takes forever to start growing). Since you've watered them while in this 'holding pattern', I wouldn't water again until you get them formally planted.
Hope this helps.
Lrae

Thanks so much, Lrae. I am relieved. How do I know if i watered them enough? It has been in teh 90s, windy, and no rain. In fact, there are fires all over my town, luckily none in my immediate area. I was hoping R.J. could help me plant them tomorrow, as school has been cancelled, but he's busy. Just doing it in the evening, takes so long to plant each one. They do not look like happy little plants, but I have no experience with bare root. How long do you think they can stay like this? Tomorrow will be "only" 86.

Lin,
Gosh, I'm sorry I didn't see your questions until today. Were you able to get everything planted on Wed? How are you doing with watering? Hope the fires are steering clear of you.
Lrae

Hi Lrae,
I am so worried. My dirt is expletive deleted and it has taken R.J. like almost an hour (I think) to dig each hole. Then I have to mix the good dirt with the best I can find of my sandy stuff, mix in the black cow and make the little mound. It's been at least an hour or more on each plant. This week we've had fires all over our area and and his father have been busy. One day the air quality was not good enough, one day he had finals and a retirment party. So today was the first day since Saturday morning that we could plant. We got about four in the ground. I have two more in the back to plant and ten in the front! I am so worried about my daylily puppies. We were planting in the dark (could not start til seven pm tonight. He was so exhausted he had to stop. I am so worried that I am planting wrong. The holes do not look completely even with the bed, but I guess we can work on that. Because of magnolia roots, there are places that I would have liked to plant to make a nice design that we have not been able to. He's been digging out big pieces of concrete (??) and weird hard white soil that is like rocks. Now we have big piles of dirt that has to go in the woods and the bed looks disgusting. waaaaa. Sorry to be a whiner. does anyone else have such problems. I have been told daylilies do not like ANY roots around. I am afraid even in the front yard bed there will be roots from the ligustrum tree, and juniper but we're digging out as best as we can. I need encouragement. I also thought we could plant all the fans in back, so took two out prematurely from their littel mound. I had to remake the temporary mounds and water them. Although I was told not to water more than once a week, I think, when I took them off their mounds it was bone day. I guess due to our windy conditions late last week and during the weekends. You may have read about our Palm Bay and Malabar, Florida fires. Thanks for listening. Lin

Sorry, I did not read your whole post carefully. Thanks for asking about the fires. Most are mainly contained. None too close to where I live. The area where my students live got a lot of smoke and they said some of their parents helped the people who lived closer. When I passed the Malabar volunteer fire dept. today there must have been over a hundred fire engines there. It's a rural community. Don't know about the Palm Bay fire dept. as though I live there, I don't pass that one on the way to work. It was smokier near school but not too bad today. We had no school Tues. or Wed. Thanks for asking. Lin

Lin,
I'm glad you don't seem to be in any danger of the fires. Hope it stays that way.
I'm sorry you're having such a time with getting your babies permanently in the ground. If you don't feel they are happy in the temporary mounds, you could pull them out and just let them soak in water. Put them in a container with just enough water to cover their roots. Keep the crowns above the water. Change it every other day. Keep them in the shade while you're doing this. You wouldn't have to worry about watering them in their temporary holes and it would give you more time to work on the permanent holes.
I actually HATE to plant bareroot daylilies in the ground. I worry about crowns being too low, or if I've gotten the air pockets all out. I really prefer putting them in pots. Sometimes I will put one that's been in a pot into the ground, but there is a soil ball attached that makes it a lot easier to deal with. The hole I put it into then needs to a LOT bigger, but it's much easier to get it in at the right depth.
Good luck, and let us know how you're making out.
Lrae

Thanks, Lrae. Unfortunately I have no shade at this point in my yard, unless I put it under a philodendrum selloum, or in the garage. Please tell me where the crown is, and what it is. ??? Is it the top middle? I used to have a grapefruit tree that provided some shade. Even my patio is western exposure, and not shady in the afternoon. I wish I lived closer to some daylily farms so I would not have to deal with bareroot. There is only one near me that has affordable stock is Garden of Angels and they don't grow that many varieties and are not selling to the public this year. The others sort of near farms are very expensive for me (Kinnebrew, Floyd Cove, et.al.)I have a little forest in back of my back yard that has a lot of shade. But I'm afraid I'd forget somethign back there. I wonder if it's not nice to pray for plants that are not food. I have no idea about air pockets. I did my best. Tomorrow we start on the front yard plants. Due to shipping the bareroot daylily gives me more choices, but it's not for the fainthearted I have found out. I'll keep you posted. Holy cow!
Lin

Lin,
You can put them in your garage to soak. You don't want the sun to hit the water in the container and heat it up.
The crown is the part where the roots come out of on the bottom side, and the foliage comes out of the top. You want to be sitting the crown on top of your 'mound' letting the roots go down into the hole. Hope this helps.

I just thought it might alleviate some of the pressure you are feeling to get all the digging done if you weren't worried about whether you needed to water the ones in the temporary mounds, that's why I mentioned soaking them.
Lrae

Thanks, Lrae,
I'm not sure if I have a container that is big enough that will hold the daylilies in just a little bit of water for the roots . Somethings big enough to hold htem in just a little bit of water and not have them slip down in the water. I was wondering if I could send you pictures of my daylilies that are in the ground to see if they are planted right? It's not something I want to send to the forum. (not so beautiful) RJ got off work after seven tonight and we got only one more in the ground. Lemonade Days I think. It was a bonus. Lin

For working clay, moisten soil the day before. Add lots of organic matter. Moistening is the secret.

Lin,
Sure you can email me the pics.
lrae556@alltel.net
Lrae

Thanks, Jake. I will do that! I don't have clay. It's supposed to be sand. but mixed in is hard stuff like rock. Some is rock, but some is weird layers of rock like dirt. You can break it apart but when you hit it with the shovel, it is like rock. We have also hit concrete pieces and stuff. (???). In the front yard there are lots of roots. Some are big roots that we are cutting and some are small that are knit togehter and form a lot of resistance when you dig.. WE are getting rid of them as much as possible as I understand daylilies don't like to be around roots. Another problem in the front yard bed is that I have lots of mulch on top that is old and looks awful, but makes it more to get through and move before you can dig your hole. It's many layers of pain in the neck.