By mapping out the garden in advance, Martha Stewart was able to visualize what the springtime blossoming would look like — and get 3,000 bulbs into the ground in a single day.

Armed with the right tools and a very simple planting technique, anyone can grow masses of colorful, spring-blooming daffodils. Fall is the time to get started — and whether your goal is to install dozens, hundreds or even thousands of bulbs, you’ll be able to get the whole project done in one autumn afternoon.

With their nodding heads of wonderful, varied shades of yellow, white, apricot and gold, spring-blooming daffodils are appealing to so many of us, and valuable flowers for the garden and landscape. Planted in small clusters or large drifts, these deer-resistant, long-lasting, easily naturalized bulbs can add bright and cheery color to any garden that is coming to life after a winter’s hibernation.

Inspired by the great daffodil displays in such famous gardens as the New York Botanical Garden; the Brooklyn Botanic Garden; and the Winterthur Garden, just northwest of Wilmington, Del., I initially started planting large numbers of bulbs each autumn about 10 years ago. It was the beginning of my search for a method that would allow me to plant lots of them neatly and quickly.

At first, we dug individual holes for each bulb, struggling with rocks and roots as we pierced the earth with a bulb digger or spade. Planting this way took more than a week, as the first order of bulbs was a bit overambitious: 5,000.

The next year, with a similar number of bulbs to plant, we scraped away 8 inches of soil, mass-planted the bulbs and covered them with the reserved earth. This saved a bit of time, but the planting was still very labor-intensive.

Last autumn I found an even better way to plant. I searched for an existing hollow or a depressed area in the garden that was lower than the surrounding plantings, eventually homing in on an unused bocce court. It was the perfect depth: 8 inches below the level of the shade garden.

Preparing the bed required amending the poor, slightly sandy soil with bone meal, superphosphate and rich compost, as well as fork-digging to a depth of 5 inches. After raking the area smooth, I applied lines of demarcation using granular lime, following a planting map; each section of the map would accommodate 50 to 100 bulbs (of 19 different varieties, below).

After all the bulbs were carefully spaced, a few loads of well-mixed compost were used to cover the area, leveling it with the surrounding gardens. The entire process was speedy, efficient and economical.

In the spring, the resulting daffodil display proved that the method is an excellent choice for anyone who wants a fast solution to bulb planting. It would certainly work for tulips, muscari, hyacinths and other mass bulb plantings (just adjust planting depth accordingly). And of course, it would work for smaller areas — when you’re planting in the dozens rather than the thousands.

Planting plan

I mapped out 19 daffodil cultivars so I would get colorful blooms all season (from early April to late May).

1. “Pheasant’s Eye”: Small greenish-yellow cups with red rims; 14 inches (midseason to late).

2. “Thalia”: Pure white star-shaped flowers; 14 to 18 inches (midseason).

3. “Mount Hood”: Wide, creamy yellow trumpets; 16 to 20 inches (midseason).

4. “Rijnveld’s Early Sensation”: Yellow early bloomer; 14 inches (early).

5. “Actaea”: Similar to ‘Pheasant’s Eye’ but with wider petals; 16 inches (midseason to late).

6. “Arkle”: Large yellow trumpets with long cups; 16 to 20 inches (midseason).

7. “Ice Follies”: White with butter-yellow cups; 16 to 20 inches (midseason).

8. “Flower Record”: White petals and yellow cups edged with orange; 18 to 20 inches (midseason to late).

9. “Salome”: White with salmon-pink cups; 18 to 20 inches (early to midseason).

10. “Fortissimo”: Soft yellow with orange cups; 18 to 20 inches (midseason).

11. “Barrett Browning”: White with rich orange cups; 14 to 16 inches (midseason).

12. “Primeur”: Pure, classic yellow trumpets; 14 to 16 inches (late).

13. “Cheerfulness”: Fragrant yellow and white flowers; 14 to 16 inches (late).

14. “Yellow Cheerfulness”: The pure yellow version of ‘Cheerfulness’; 14 to 16 inches (late).

15. “Peeping Tom”: Shorter plants with yellow, long-cupped flowers; 12 to 14 inches (early).

16. “Jack Snipe”: Small cream and yellow flowers; 8 to 10 inches (early).

17. “Quail”: Dainty yellow, with abundant blossoms; 12 to 14 inches (late).

18. Narcissus Obvallaris: Tiny yellow naturalizing species; 8 to 12 inches (early).

19. “Minnow”: White and pale yellow miniatures; 7 to 8 inches (early).

1. Draw the plan: Using my bulb catalog as a guide, I make a planting scheme that arranges each daffodil variety in groups, or “drifts,” of colors, heights and blooming times.

2. Prepare the bed and map it out: For larger plantings, use a no-dig method. Look for a natural depression or hollow on your property where you can place the bulbs 8 inches below ground level. Or, in smaller flower beds, remove the top layer of soil to the proper planting depth. Scatter bulb fertilizer or amendments such as bone meal over the area and work in. Mark the plan directly on the soil surface with lime.

3. Position the bulbs: Place each bulb root side down, and space them 4 to 6 inches apart in a grid.

4. Cover them up: Fill in with topsoil and compost, raking until the surface is flat (avoid stepping on the surface).

Sources: For bulbs, vanen gelen.com; for amendments, homedepot.com and agway.com.