How To Plant Tulips For Beautiful Spring Blooms

Tulips are a favorite garden plant and well known as harbingers of Spring (they’re one of the first plants of the season to produce blooms). Their beautiful flowers and vibrant colors are a refreshing change after a cold and dreary winter.

Tulips are easy to plant and maintain although the digging required can be a bit overwhelming if you decide to plant dozens of bulbs in the Fall–but so worthwhile to do and you’re sure to appreciate the effort come Spring.

How To Plant Tulip Bulbs

• Choose bulbs that are plump and firm, don’t use bulbs that have soft spots or mold since they likely suffer from bulb rot.
• Select the area you will be planting the tulips in and prepare the soil by digging at least 12 inches deep, making the soil loose and clump free. Tulips flourish in well dug soil.
• How Deep To Plant Bulbs: Instructions for how deep to plant the bulbs should have been included with your variety of bulbs at time of purchase. If not a basic guideline is to plant bulbs about three times their height in depth (so if a bulb is 2 inches high, dig a hole 6 inches deep, leaving 4 inches of soil above the top bulb tip once the bulb is planted in the soil).
• How Far Apart To Space Bulbs: Space the bulbs about two times their width apart (you can plant them farther apart but planting them closer together gives an impressive show once they start blooming).
• Using a bulb planter or a trowel, dig a hole in the prepared soil to the required depth needed to plant the bulb (one hole per bulb). If you are planting several tulips together, dig up an area large enough to accommodate all the bulbs instead of digging one hole at a time (big time saver!).
• Plant the bulb with the pointy side up, the flat root side sitting at the bottom of the hole. Sometimes it’s hard to tell which end is which, in these cases a safe bet is to plant the bulb on its side–the plant will figure things out and grow up. Fill the hole back with soil making sure there are no air pockets and pat the ground lightly as you fill.
• Water the tulip bulbs thoroughly after planting.

When To Plant Tulips: Tulips should be planted sometime between September and December (depending on which zone you live in, usually about one month before the heavy Fall frost is a good time).

Where To Plant Tulips: Plant tulips where they will receive at least six hours of sun, the bulbs need plenty of sun so they can store energy for next year’s blooms. Soil should be well draining to prevent bulb rot.

How To Grow Tulips In Pots

Yes tulips can be grown in pots and containers! They’ll still need to be planted in the Fall and winter outside, here are a few tips:

• Choose a pot with drainage holes, fill the bottom of the pot with a layer of pea gravel or rocks for drainage.
• Plant the bulbs in a potting soil that isn’t heavy with peat, you want the soil to be well draining so the bulbs don’t rot. You can mix a bit of sand into the soil to increase drainage if you like.
• Fill bottom of pot with soil deep enough so that the top bulb tip will be 3 to 4 inches from the top of soil. Bulbs can be planted much closer to each other when grown in pots (about 1/4″ to 1/2″ apart).
• Plant the bulbs as noted above (pointy side up and flat bottom down) and cover them with dirt.
• Cover the top of the soil lightly with garden compost, a heavy layer of mulch for harsh winters (about 2″ deep).
• After planting the bulbs in the pot, water.
• Place the pot in an area of the yard where they’ll have some protection from the sun and harsh weather (for example: near hedges). If you live in a harsh winter climate, place the pot somewhere where the bulbs won’t freeze solid (unheated garage for example). Bulbs will freeze easier when planted in pots so you do need to take care where you place the pot (if you have very cold winters).
• When you notice the first shoots growing from the tulip bulbs in the Spring, take the pot and place it in full sun then give them a good drink of water.

Tips

• After the tulips bloom, let their leaves yellow for about 2 months before cutting back (at this point the leaves should be able to pull free from the plant easily), the foliage helps feed the bulbs.
• Some tulip varieties will multiply so if you planted 12 tulips in the fall and dig up 16–lucky you!
• Once the bloom fades, cut off the flower to make sure the plant’s energy will go to the bulb rather than to the bloom.
• Mulching the ground above the bulbs in harsh winter climates can help prevent the bulbs from freezing (add mulch after the ground has frozen).
• About a month before tulips are expected to bloom, top the soil lightly with a mix of bone meal and compost to give the bulbs an extra boost of nutrients.
• If you bought tulip bulbs early and it’s too soon to plant them, keep them cool as warm temperatures will affect the bloom size. Placing them in a paper bag (so the bulbs can breathe) then storing them in the refrigerator works great!

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