Lest we forget

I have recently been bitten by the gardening bug. I have no idea what I'm doing, but I expect to have some fun learning. I want to chronicle my adventures as I get into what promises to be a lifelong hobby, and I want to start from the beginning. 

Last fall I bought a bag of 50 tulip bulbs. I found places for half of them. The rest overwintered in the bag, out in the (unheated) garage. In early March I decided to try my hand at forcing a few, and in the process of getting them started, I noticed they and a lot of the others in the bag were starting to sprout. So one cold, rainy day I grabbed a spade, dug some shallow grooves in the soft ground and tucked in the remaining bulbs. I knew they should have been planted deeper, and I knew they should have been planted earlier, but I had nothing to lose; they weren't going to last until fall anyway. By this time the ones from last fall were already poking their leaves out of the ground, so I knew these plants were way behind. They might not bloom this year, I told myself, but they can grow some leaves and feed the bulbs and bloom next year if they survive.

Much to my bewilderment and joy, everything worked! The forced bulbs bloomed, the tulips from the fall grew and bloomed and looked wonderful, and every one of the too-shallow, too-late bulbs sprouted - and about the time the blooms came off the fall tulips, virtually all the spring tulips bloomed and looked even better! 

I had long wanted to do some gardening, and my success with the tulips has provided the final kick start. I've planted a bunch of stuff since then. As I said, I don't know what I'm doing but I'll learn, and learning is always fun.