Every year around this time, folks in my online gardening groups start discussing whether it’s a good time to plant tulips. And while planting bulbs in the dead of winter may seem like bizarre behavior, there’s a reason to consider it: Gardeners are suckers for an off-season bulb sale, and if the ground is soft enough, winter is actually a great time to plant bulbs.
Bulbs come in sets, so you'll get them in bags, for each variety. Credit: Amanda BlumConsider all the fall bulbs
It’s not only tulips, either. Consider ranunculus, which looks like small poppies; liatris, a tall, spiky flower; alliums, which send up a single shoot, with a gigantic puffball at the end, sometimes as large as twelve inches across; crocus, the first sign of spring; poppies, iris, peony and more. They arrive looking much like garlic bulbs, and they grow in the same manner. Planted beneath the soil in fall and winter, they get a much-needed chill from the weather and shoot up in the spring. They arrive in a very specific order, with the crocuses first, and then tulips, ranunculus, iris, and peonies, followed by alliums and finally, liatris in mid-summer. They come in different forms, too: bulbs and corms, which look like tiny spiders. Peonies and poppies arrive as bare roots, and irises arrive as tubers. Each gets planted slightly differently.
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As soon as the box arrives with your purchases, you should open the box and let it get air, but not sun. You want to plant as close to arrival as possible at this point. Some of the bulbs might have a little mold. If it's only a little, that's okay, but expect a few bulbs to be goners (they’ll be desiccated and papery).
You'll need a bulb planter
Digging these holes is best done with special equipment, and you have some options. If you’re comfortable getting up close to the space you’ll be planting in, you can use a bulb planter, which is a hand tool. This is the most ideal, so you can see what else is in the area. There are also standing versions, which are a little less precise, since you’re farther away and might miss something in the space. But standing planters have the advantage of saving your back, and letting you use more leverage from your body. The last option I often see recommended is an auger, which attaches to your power drill, but I don’t recommend it for this job. Augers are fantastic for digging deep holes, but they are the least precise of the tools, and most likely to disturb nearby plants. Bulb planters give you tidy holes to toss the bulb right into. Augers tend to throw a lot of dirt around, and mostly loosen the soil so it is easier to dig in.
Think about color and bloom time when arranging
I have the bags laid out in order so I can determine spacing and then lay out individual bulbs. Credit: Amanda BlumI unload all the bags of bulbs and roughly lay them, in order, in the space they’ll go. This allows me to figure out spacing and make adjustments. Next, I open the bags and start arranging the individual bulbs, working one section at a time. I prefer a “naturalized” look, so I simply toss the bulbs on the ground and plant them where they land.
How to use your bulb planter
A hole from a bulb planter, with a bulb inside. Credit: Amanda BlumMuch is written about how bulbs should be placed pointy side up in the hole, as this is how they grow. In recent years, this has been debunked by flower farmers—plants know what they’re doing, and will right themselves under the dirt.
How to plant tubers, corms, and bare roots
When planting tubers, you should do little more than scratch up the ground, and take up an inch or two of dirt. Tubers like to have their roots in the ground, but they, themselves, sit exposed on the surface. Tubers also spread easily, so make sure to plant them with enough space to grow.
Corms should be soaked overnight before you plant them. They’re curious-looking little roots, but the little arms of the “spider” all face in one direction. That’s the bottom. After soaking, those roots will plump up, and now you can plant them. You want the soil you plant into to be loose. You can push the corm into it, only enough that the top of the corm is still visible, but the rest of the plant is under the soil. They’re quite small, so this isn’t difficult.
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