One of the cheapest and easiest bulbs a gardener could grow would be the common daffodil (Narcissus). In fact, planting daffodil bulbs and successfully seeing them flower is an achievable goal for even the most novice gardener.

The beauty of any spring flowering bulb is the fact that you stick it in the ground and see nothing for a couple of months until finally a few strands of foliage spear their way through the soil. They continue heavenward and after reaching some invisible ceiling they begin to send a flower out, as a submarine would raise a telescope. Then almost instantly, your drab garden bed is clothed in raiment of colour that takes your breath away and inspires the neighbours to do something about their garden.
Planting daffodil bulbs is as inspiring as that – and more. Last year we naturalised a bunch of daffodil bulbs beneath our deciduous silver birch and were so impressed with how they meshed with the dichondra. The flowers seemed to last for ages and they were so cheery that they motivated us to get into action with the spring planting.

There are more than 25 species and over 13,000 hybridisations of the daffodil bulb not including jonquils (which are incorrectly termed as daffodil bulbs).

While planting daffodil bulbs is not an onerous task a gardener can still come unstuck and fail to see any reward for their effort. There are numerous reasons why daffodil bulbs don’t flower and the American Daffodil Society has come up with a great list of reasons for this. These range from planting daffodil bulbs too deep or too shallow, to leaving them too long in the same position.

How to plant Daffodil Bulbs

Daffodil bulbs don’t just have to be planted in the ground. They work exceptionally well in pots and containers also and may even be easier to care for when planted in pots. The benefit of growing them in containers is that they’re easy to identify where they’re positioned unlike in a garden setting.

We chose to naturalise ours under a bed of dichondra amongst some silver birch trees because we knew they wouldn’t obstruct any other gardening ventures in that position. Many gardeners have noted that they inadvertently dig their daffodil bulbs up mistakenly thinking it was a free space for another plant.

If you decide to plant daffodil bulbs in the soil ensure that you have some way of identifying the position later down the track. Prepare the soil well by aerating it with a garden fork and working in some composted material and an organic fertiliser such as manure or blood and bone.

Using a small garden shovel or bulb planter to dig a hole 2 times the height of the daffodil bulb. You should be able to place another daffodil bulb on top of the one your planting as a guide for knowing how far to dig the hole. Cover the hole with the remaining soil and pat down. Water in well.

Fertilising daffodil bulbs

There are only two times that you should need to fertilise your daffodil bulbs. Once when you’re planting them, or if they’re still in the ground then fertilise at the start of autumn, and once when the flowers have died off and the foliage is beginning to brown. Some gardeners also fertilise just before flowering but this really isn’t necessary.

The first application of fertiliser is for the development of the foliage while the second, as the foliage dies down, is for the development of next year’s flower.