The world around us has finally begun to thaw and I no longer need to wear long underwear, two shirts, a sweater and two pairs of socks when I’m inside our house. Seriously, it was COLD around here for the last few weeks — and I am so, so glad that it’s staying above freezing now.

That doesn’t actually mean that our rain barrels have thawed yet from their solid ice status, but at least I can dig in shallow dirt again finally. And that is exactly what I intend to do this weekend as I put some bulbs in the ground that I bought last year.

I am notoriously bad about bulbs. I love to buy them at deep discount at the end of each year but then I have trouble getting them in the ground. Actually, this past year, I put around 100 in our courtyard but I guess I didn’t realize that I had bought quite as many bulbs as I did last year (for the whopping price of €5 for them all) so I’ve been completely at a loss as to what I should do with the rest.

Then, when it got really cold, I realized that I was in danger of losing the rest of the bulbs I hadn’t yet planted because they were just sitting in a box outside by our front door. So I brought them inside and they started to really grow…which meant I needed to get with the program. As luck would have it, we had a few empty pots sitting around that I could bring inside to thaw, and I started planting bulbs in those.

I also considered sticking them in some of my other indoor plants, but I seem to recall that bulbs need to freeze once or at least have cooler temps before they will restart themselves, thinking the winter has come and gone to be replaced by spring. So I figure my houseplants won’t like me too much if I put them outdoors like that.

So far, the narcissus are furthest  along, mostly because they’ve been in the pot the longest. Last weekend I planted a bunch more bulbs and they are just started to peak through. So we should have a beautiful display of spring flowers in the kitchen very shortly.

Mackenzie is absolutely loving watching them grow. And if I can remember to do it early enough, next year I will put them outside during our first freeze and see just how early I can force them to bloom. I just love flowers and find bulbs so practical and fascinating since they keep coming back year after year.

Did you plant any bulbs before winter hit? Or do you still have some around that you need to get in the ground? It really only take a few minutes and the rewards are so definitely worth it!

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