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Planting Bulbs

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There is nothing quite so amazing as tulips in the spring. The bright reds and yellows appearing against a background of white snow is nothing less than a miracle. Planting bulbs in the fall is not something that provide instant gratification. You have to wait for the cold of the winter months to pass before the flowers appear.

Bulbs come in a variety of types. There are the true bulbs like tulips, lilium, and daffodils and the little grape hyancinth. There are corms like gladiolus and crocus and rhizomes such as the bearded iris. Begonias and anemome are tubers while day lilies and dahlias are tuberous roots. In all of these, the bigger the bulb is, the better the bloom will be. The energy that drives the flower comes from the bulb.

Each of these bulbs has its own preferences for depth of planting. Rhizomes and tubes like to be planted with their tops level with the top of the soil. Tuberous roots need their stem buds near the surface but with enough room for their roots to spread.

Planting bulbs for the taller plants means that you have to dig a little deeper. If the soil is light and loose, you can plant these up to a foot deep. However, I usually plant them about 6 inches deep. So does the town's best amateur gardener. The soil is moderately loose.

The general rule is that you plant bulbs at a depth that is three times their diameter. And while some people will say it doesn't matter, you really should plant the bulb right side up. You can usually tell which is the top of the bulb because the bottom will likely have signs of roots. If there are no little root hairs showing, then plant them with the pointy side up. Or ask someone which is the top of the bulb.

She told me that the best thing to do is to work the bed so that it is nice and soft and then put on a few inches of manure and work that in. Let the bed sit for a few days and then plant the bulbs. If she is planting bulbs in a big bed, she digs holes that are about the width of a dinner plate and places about a dozen bulbs in each hole. Then she covers them with 6 inches of soil. In a regular garden bed, she does the same thing but she makes the holes a little smaller – luncheon plate size and puts half a dozen bulbs in it.

The wonderful thing about planting bulbs is that for most of them, depending on your climate, it's not something you have to do every year. They just keep on appearing year after year.