It’s mid-November, and everyone in northern New England know what that means. It’s time to put away the patio furniture, wind up the garden hoses, harvest the hardy herbs, spread mulch on the raised beds and tuck in for the winter.
Despite the fact I’ve lived in New England virtually all of my life and in Maine for the past 30-plus years, every fall I still scan that predictable newspaper article that purports to say something new about how to prepare for winter, but actually recites the same tips year after year. Check your car’s battery. Make sure you have working flashlights. Clean the furnace. We all know to do these things, so this blog post is going to be about the other stuff we do around here to get ready for What Lies Ahead.
The Annual Planting of the Bulbs. People who have recently moved here undertake this task in October, when the ground is soft. They use stand-up bulb planting gizmos like the one shown here, so they won’t strain their backs.
What they don’t know is if you plant those tasty tulip bulbs too early in the fall, they’ll either rot in the ground after the inevitable October week o’ rain or be devoured by squirrels. Better to wait until well into November, when holes must be chipped in the frozen soil. This proves your mettle as a Mainer and gives the squirrels a limited window of time to turn your Golden Parades and Red Emperors into their Thanksgiving feast. Because of the increased degree of difficulty inherent in late-fall planting, to create holes large and deep enough for a bulb, you will need a foam kneeling pad (trust me, the ground will feel like concrete after about five minutes), a mallet and a pointed digging device like the ones pictured here. 
A half a day on your knees, flailing away at the hard ground will eliminate any need to go to the gym, and double the need to pop some ibuprophen.
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