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 them:

A bulb is no more than a food storage organ and can be described as a modified bud having a flattened or much compressed stem on a basal plate and when planted roots 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 are in turn covered by a very thin covering to protect the bulb from drying out.

Also usually classed as "bulbs" are corms, tubers and rhizomes, all of which are food storage organs.

A corm could be called a solid bulb. It is a modified fleshy stem with buds.

Tubers are swollen stems or roots.

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

Ok, that's enough of what bulbs are let's get on with the doing of, and see how you plant bulbs.

But just before that.

Before you find out how to plant bulbs its best if you know what kind of soil it is best to plant them in.

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

So, how do you achieve this ideal soil?

If you are planting a group of bulbs in a bed or border dig over the soil to about a spade depth. Add some coarse horticultural sand or grit to improve drainage.

If your soil is heavy clay add plenty of horticultural sand or grit. (Don't use ordinary builders sand or grit, make sure it is horticultural grade).

And add plenty of organic matter, well-rotted home compost, well-rotted farmyard manure or bags of garden manure from your garden centre or nursery are just the job for this.

Dig this all in making sure all solid lumps are broken up and you end up with a fine loose soil mixture.

If you are planting a single bulb in a lawn or elsewhere in your garden dig a hole the depth of your hand trowel and mix in horticultural sand or grit and your organic matter.

You want to end with a fine well-drained and manured soil. Just the job for your bulbs. They will flourish and flower their socks off.

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

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

Some hand trowels have measure lines so it is easy to dig the hole at the right depth.

How deep should you plant your bulbs?

As a general guide they should be planted so that you have a depth of soil above them equal to two times the bulbs height.

So, if your bulb is 5cm (2inches) high plant it 15cm (6inches) deep. Or if your bulb is 10cm (4inches) high plant it 30cm (12inches) deep.

This is only a guide, a couple of centimeters either way will make no difference. So don't get to hung up on the depth.

The bulb should be placed in the prepared hole with the basal plate (roots) down.

Cover the bulb with the soil dug from the hole and gently firm it down. Don't compress the soil, just gently firm it.

Label the bulbs so you know where they are and what they are.

This is a must if you intend planting up your borders and beds in the future with more plants before the bulbs have started to grow.

There is no need to water your bulbs immediately after planting.

Now be a little patient and in a few weeks watch for signs of new growth and from then on see them burst into riots of colourful flowers.

A couple of tips, don't plant the bulbs if the ground is very wet or frozen.

Buy only good quality bulbs. If they are damaged in any way do not buy them, they may not grow.

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

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

These are simply pushed in to the ground using a back and forth twisting motion as you push them down.

They usually, like the hand trowel, have measure marks so it makes planting the bulbs at the right depth easy.

They can be difficult to push in the ground if it is hard so you may need to resort to your hand trowel if the ground is too hard.

Once you have pushed the bulb planter down to the correct depth simply pull it out and you will have a hole at the right depth to plant your bulb.

You will need to remove the soil from the bulb planter by squeezing the handles together and mix it with horticultural sand or grit and well rotted garden manure as above.

All you need do now is place your bulb in the hole and fill it with the soil mixture gently firming the surface.

These bulb planters usually come in stailnless steel which, like all stainless steel gardening tools, a dream to clean.

You can, if you prefer, buy them in different colours, like pretty pink!

But not being stainless steel these pretty bulb planters are difficult to keep clean and the colour coating soon becomes scratched.

Don't worry too much if your bulb is not planted the right way up. 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 or how to propagate and grow any of your favourite garden ( yard ) plants please feel free to contact us

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