Every year, Fall sneaks up on me so quickly. The one thing that’s done and prepared for Fall, way ahead of time, is my Spring bulb order. Usually, as a flower farmer, you want to get your HUGE Spring bulb (tulips/daffodils) order in with your supplier by the time Spring is wrapping up. The beauties that I order, come all the way from the Netherlands… and so ordering them early, ensures that I get the varieties that I love/want, at the quantities that I want. The problem is, you do a “mad dash” to order, and then don’t realize until you start receiving your orders, how many you actually accrued. I might have triple ordered what I planted last year… it kind of goes with my personality I suppose, “Go big or go home!” It is definitely, sure to be a beautiful Spring.
Last year, I planted so many of my daffodil bulbs within my fenced in garden, in rows… but this year, I’m planting them in different groupings around the outside of the fenced garden beds, and throughout my landscaping. Daffodil stem lengths are long and great for floral design/bouquet building, so I usually plant those a little further apart, because they multiply over the years. You will have more and more daffodils, as each year passes. Tulips on the other hand, I treat as an annual here at the farm, and pull them out of the ground each year (it’s because I want maximum stem length, and usually under the ground, there’s another 3-4 inches of stem!) When preparing a space, for both, I usually dig about 5-6 inches of a trench… but lets take a closer look at the differences.
There’s two different ways you can plant your tulips. Either way, you want the tear drop shape, sitting upright in your space. The roots will develop out of the bulging bottom, and flowers/stem will come out the skinny top part. When I plant tulip bulbs, I plant them nice and tight (like the first of the two planted photos) in an egg carton sort of manner. This is just a way for me to save space, and when you plant them this close, it’s more of a “show”… very dramatic, and the blooms are so close, that they hold each other up right. They also are a lot easier to pull out of the ground for me, when harvesting. Most others, that don’t grow for cut flowers… should plant your tulip bulbs the second way, a little more spaced apart, so that each year, a new bulb can form.
Daffodil bulbs are much larger in size, when compared to tulips. When purchasing daffodil bulbs, they usually always have root growth showing, so you know which side faces down into the ground. Many of my daffodil bulbs arrived this year with babies attached to them, and it’s possible to get more than 1 bloom from each of these, next year. If not next year, then definitely the year following. When planting daffodils, I usually space them about 6 inches apart from one another, because they multiply each year, like crazy. Over the years, it’s possible to dig up your bulbs, and divide them, and move them to other parts of your yard if you’d like.
With both bulbs, before I cover back up with dirt, I sprinkle in some bone meal, or bulb tone. This is just a little “vitamin” for those bulbs to put out beautiful blooms. It’s not necessary by any means, but just helps a bit, especially if you don’t have the best soil, or in the process of amending your soil (like I am).
Planting bulbs, especially this time of the year, always feels a bit tedious. Just know that all your hard work does pay off… Spring is bound to be beautiful if you plant a little bit of “hope” right now. Happy Planting!
