Planting Tips for Tulips and Daffodils

If you love spring flowers like daffodils and tulips, you need to plan and plant ahead because spring blooming bulbs start with fall planting time, and I’m going to explain how to plant bulbs for a stunning spring garden.

The most popular type of spring bulbs includes Empress tulips, which come in a vivid array of colors like reds, yellows, oranges, purples and whites and daffodils, also called Narcissus. Typically, they’re various shades of yellow and white and there are also some peach varieties. They have that little cup in the middle surrounded by a frilly petal that everyone is so familiar with. They are available online from Eden Brothers, Wayside Gardens, and Van England. If you do a Hey Alexa or Hey Siri search you should be able to turn up several other places to buy great bulbs. The first step is to dig a hole. The depth of our hole will be determined by the size of the bulb. The general rule is three times as wide as the bulb is how deep you need to go. Therefore, with bulbs about two inches our holes will be about six inches. For smaller bulbs, they’re about one inch. So they’re only three inches deep and then you have to plant it right side up. The best tools to use for this are a 3” x 9” power auger, which attaches to a 3/8” drive power drill for planting shallow bulbs and seedlings such as tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant. For plants that need to be rooted deeper or for aerating your compost heap, a 3” auger with a 24” depth is a most helpful tool. These items are made by several companies such as Power Planter, Ames, Lichter, Jissco, Hiltex, 7 Penn, and Yard Butler. We like Tech Team’s https://techteamproducts.com/ offering the best. Their 777 3” x 9” Auger https://www.amazon.com/Tech-Team-Planter-Seedlings-Planters/dp/B07S385BW7/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=tech+team+bulb+auger&qid=1565099570&s=gateway&sr=8-1 is great for your bulbs and seedlings and their item 778 3” x 24” Auger https://www.amazon.com/Tech-Team-Planter-Seedlings-Planters/dp/B07S386MWG/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=tech+team+bulb+auger&qid=1565099596&s=gateway&sr=8-2is absolutely perfect for plants that need to be rooted deeper.

The bottom of the bulb has some old ruffled roots and the top of it will be more tapered. The next step is to sprinkle a little high nitrogen fertilizer and bone meal in the bottom of the hole this way, the bulbs are fed, and they have food and nutrition waiting at their roots right away. You can buy both the fertilizer and bone meal at Lowe’s, Menards, Home Depot, and online at Amazon. So, you simply just place the bulbs in the hole. You want to make sure they aren’t touching. So now arrange them with the tops up and not touching. If you’ve got the space, you can plant about one hundred. It really looks nice. If you’re working in an existing garden, you can put about 12 of them in one hole; you don’t want to plant one single bulb. Always plant in mass to give a big show. The next step is to cover them with soil after you water. Now, it’s time to mulch, you simply spread about two inches of mulch over the top. You can actually go to for two to four inches over the top. And that helps keep the soil a consistent temperature all winter and that’s it.

You step back and let nature take its course. In early spring, you’ll notice the green shoots starting to pop up. Plant these beautiful bulbs every fall and you’ll have a flower filled yard every spring.