Planting Bulbs
Successfully

Planting bulbs is easy, and you can have splendid spring, summer, autumn ( fall ) and winter displays with little effort.

But before you get to the nuts and bolts of planting bulbs here’s a quick description of what bulbs are to help you understand how they grow.

A bulb really is no more than a food storage organ and can best be described as a flattened or very compressed stem on a basal plate and when planted roots will grow from the underside of the plate.

Bulbs have an embryonic shoot, or flower, from which leaves, or flowers, grow as the plant develops.

The flattened stem and the embryos are completely covered by tightly packed thickened fleshy leaves which are called scales.

The scales in turn are covered by a very thin covering to protect the bulb from drying out.

Also usually known as bulbs are corms tubers and rhizomes all of which are just food storage organs.

A corm could really be called a solid bulb as it is a modified fleshy stem with buds.

Tubers are no more than swollen stems or roots.

Rhizomes are just swollen stems which, depending on the type of plant, grows below ground or on the surface.

Ok, that’s enough of what bulbs are, lets get on with planting bulbs.

But just before that…

Before you find out how easy it is to plant bulbs here’s a bit on what is the best type of soil to plant your bulbs in, an essential if you want your bulbs to grow and flourish.

Very quickly then, the soil that best suites bulbs should ideally be sandy, well drained and have plenty of organic matter added.

So how do you achieve this ideal soil then?

Well if you are planting a group of bulbs together in a bed or border dig the ground over well to about a spade depth. Add some *coarse horticultural grit or sand, to improve the drainage.

And add plenty of organic matter, well rotted manure or well rotted home-made compost or bags of manure from your garden center or garden nursery are ideal.

Dig this well in making sure it is all well mixed in with the soil and any large lumps are broken up.

If you are planting a single bulb in a grassed area or border or bed and using a hand trowel dig a hole the depth of the trowel and mix in *coarse horticultural grit or sand and your organic matter.

You want to end up with a fine well drained and rich soil. Mixing in grit and manure with the soil and breaking up the large lumps will give you a perfect medium for planting your bulbs.

Just watch them flourish and flower their socks of.

*Don’t use ordinary builders sand or sand from a beach, it must be horticultural grade.

Right now you have an ideal soil so at last you can plant your bulbs.

Whether you are planting one bulb or a group of bulbs it easier to use a hand trowel to dig a single hole to plant each of your bulbs in.

How deep should you plant your bulbs?

Don’t get too hung up on depth, although it is ideal to get near the perfect depth it is not critical, plant your bulbs a bit deeper rather than shallower.

A good general guide is to plant your bulbs so that they have a depth of soil above them equal to two times the bulbs height.

So, if your bulb is 5cmm (2inches) high the bottom of the bulb should be about 15cm (6inches) deep.

Or if your bulb is 10cm (4inches) high the bottom should be about 30cm (12inches) deep.

But don’t forget this is only a guide and a couple centimetres either way, preferably deeper, will make no difference.

Once you have dug your hole, to roughly the right depth, loosen the soil at the bottom of the hole and mix in some of your grit and manure. This will get the roots of to flying start, just what is needed for perfect blooming bulbs.

Now place the bulb basal plate, roots, downwards.

Cover the bulb with your soil, grit, manure mixture to the normal ground level and gently firm it down.

Don’t compact the soil, just gently firm it down.

Label the bulbs so you know where they are, what type they are and when you planted them.

Labelling is a must if you’re going to plant up your flower beds with annuals, biennials or perennials later on.

If you don’t label your bulbs and they are not growing you wont know where they are and, as sure as eggs are eggs, you will dig them up as you plant other flowers.

If the soil is dry give your bulbs a good watering.

All that’s needed now is a little patience and in just a few weeks watch out for signs of new growth as your bulbs push through the surface. There’s no stopping them now.

A couple of tips:

Don’t plant your bulbs if the ground is really wet or frozen, they will just rot away to nothing. Wait for the ground to dry out a bit or for frosts to have finished.

Buy only good quality bulbs. If they are damaged in any way don’t buy them, the chances are they will not grow well or even grow at all.

Plant your bulbs at the right time of the year or they may just rot in the ground if you don’t.

If you are planting just a couple of bulbs in a grassed area it is easier to use a bulb planter.

These are simply pushed into the ground using a back and forth twisting motion while gently pushing downwards.

They can be difficult to push in the ground if it is dry, if this the case you may need to use your hand trowel.

Once you have pushed the bulb planter into the ground to the correct depth just pull it back up, you may have to twist it back and forth a bit, and you will have a hole at the right depth for your bulb.

You can easily remove the soil from the bulb planter by squeezing the the handles together.

Mix in some of your grit and manure to the soil you have removed and break up any large lumps.

Break up the soil at the bottom of the hole with a trowel and add some of your grit and manure, mix it well in.

Place your bulb base plate down in the bottom of the hole and cover it with your soil mix.

Gently firm it down and give it a watering.

These bulb planters are available in painted mild steel and stainless steel.

Treat yourself to the stainless steel version, they are easier to push in the ground, a dream to keep clean and should last a lifetime.

If your bulbs are not planted completely the right way up, or even upside down, it is not usually the end of the world.

Just look at this Hyacinth bulb which is sprouting leaves from the base and starting to grow upwards.

This Hyacinth bulb was intentionally left on its side and slightly upside down.

Plants have a wonderful way of doing what they are designed to do. They just want to grow!

If you want any further information on planting bulbs please feel free to contact us

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Winter flowering bulbs..... read more

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