I planted just over 400 in the garden this year. Just recovered from surgery and had to take it easy, did 300 over two days last week, then the last 120 (crocuses in the lawn) today. For some I would use Denninmi's approach, digging out an area, laying out each bulb (I'm picky about placing them right side up), then covering with soil. Planted 100 allium ostrowskianums in long, narrrow trenches, and several other varieties of alliums by digging individual holes, same with anemonies. I tried pretty much everything for the lawn crocuses, finally broke down and pulled out an old dandilion weeder - it was amazing for zapping perfect sized holes into the grass. I've yet to find a way to avoide aching knees, strained butt muscles, back pain and sore palms. That's what cold October gardening is all about, and it's all worth it come January-July. Tomorrow I do the easy part - bulbs in my patio containers. Just under 100, but way easier than today's 3 hour crawl on a wet, cold lawn! :)

Hi Judy! I'm late in seeing this....I've been out straight with yard cleanup work....hundreds of roses to prune, leaves to rake, perennials to cut back, etc. The snow in these parts is finally almost all melted and my plants are slowly coming to life. I am in zone 4 so my daylilies are just barely poking up, but I have a very good feeling all of them made it through the winter just fine. I was really worried because I made some very late orders to Maryotts & Marietta and most of the DL didn't get planted til the end of September/early October, which is almost too late here. Since I am new to the daylily bug, I just ordered lilies that appealed to me visually and some of them were evergreens....then over the winter I started panicking, wondering if they were going to be 'toast' in my climate. I am overjoyed to discover that all my lilies are showing growth, and the evergreens stayed nice and green under their mulch, for the most part. Of course, what's a good little daylily addict to do over the long, snowy winter? ORDER loads more daylilies!!! I have about 60 coming in early May so I have to scramble to get new beds made and ready. This was the first year in a long time that I didn't order any roses. This year it was just daylilies, true lilies and a few perennials. I still love roses, but I love that DL don't hurt me! With all that pruning, my arms look as if I got jumped by a mountain lion! Yay for daylilies and their smooth stems...LOL. I've enjoyed going over all the beautiful photos everyone posted here, and it's made my winter more bearable. I can't wait to be able to post photos of my own! I'm way behind because of my climate so that won't be until July probably, but I am excited. BTW, Judy....you didn't get hit by any of those tornados did you? Sure hope not. Thanks for asking about me! Celeste

It isn't that I'm so wonderfully organized, Pam, I require some help in remembering what I want to do. Sometimes I come inside and remember that I had a wonderful thought about adding something to a certain spot, but I've already forgotten what it was. I can't remember what bloomed in April as compared with May. Sometimes when I read my notes, if there isn't a photo with them, I am not sure what they mean. Today I looked at a file with nicotiana and lilies together and a note about purple nicotiana that I don't remember at all, and it is only a month old. If there isn't a note with the plants I'm about to plant, they'll go in the wrong places when I get distracted. You all can feel free to worry about me at any time. If I kept all my plans 'in my head' they would rapidly leak out. There's just too much to remember it all. Nell

I've started mowing them. I deliberately left my grass long so when I mow the leaves there's some green material mixed in. I pile them up about knee deep in the cleared off garden, let my kids stomp on them, wet them down really well and cover with sheets of plastic weighted down and let them "cook" all winter. If I had enough perforated landscape fabric that would be even better. Yes, it does take a while for my garden soil to warm up in the spring but it has improved my clay soil dramatically. I keep meaning to put a little horse manure in there too --after I let the kids stomp the leaves -- then cover them up. I also use them to mulch my roses. But I have a LOT of leaves so I finally just end up pileing the shredded leaves in an enormous pile behind the garage where they aren't an eyesore for the neighbors and let them rot down all winter. I will use that leaf mold to side dress plantings or as mulch in the early part of the summer. Unfortunately, using the bagger on the rider doesn't really work that well. It fills up in about 2 minutes. I use the rider to mow them and direct them into quasi-piles then run the pusher over them to suck them up or I rake them into the garden cart to haul to where I want them. I usually wait until most of the leaves are off my maples before I embark on this project. My husband just had hernia surgery so you can guess who's going to be doing the bulk of the yard work this fall. Leaf burning is also allowed in Collins. I hate it. The whole neighborhood smells of smoking wet leaves, you can't hang out laundry or open the windows. Do we really need to release all that smoke into the atmosphere! At least in Marshalltown the city composts them. Maria