Fall Bulbs for Spring Blooms

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I love having the help of little hands out in the garden. We got out and planted the last of our fall bulbs for spring blooms today. It was a heat wave compared to the 20 degree days we had last week. We were both happy to be out in the sunshine and digging in the dirt.

My intention was to be finished with all of my bulb planting in October, but lo and behold, our local farm store had these bulbs on clearance. Well, I couldn’t pass them up! Tulips, Daffodils, Hyacinths, Grape Hyacinths (Muscari) and Crocus. You can keep track of your flowers and seed with my free seed inventory tracker!

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I restrained myself this time and only bought one of each variety. I had already planted hundreds of other fall bulbs from Costco, K.Van Bourgondien, and my sister. During planting, I tried my best to mark the gardens where I planted everything, and also made a garden diagram. Because chickens. We’ll see how well I did, come spring!

It is always best to have a little helper, maybe around 34″ tall to help open the bags and pull out the bulbs. These little people make the best gardeners. Just make sure they don’t pull all of the paper off of the bulbs while they’re waiting! It took a little time to explain to my daughter that the bulbs needed that layer. Now she gets concerned if it accidentally falls off!

Plant Your Bulbs

First step is to work up the soil well. I love my spading fork “old reliable”. I use it more than any other garden tool. Each bulb has its own specified planting depth and spacing (you should be able to find this on the package it came in). Tulips are around 6″ depth (that is to the bottom of the hole). Muscari are only 2-3″ deep. Generally, the bigger the bulb the deeper they need to be planted.  Work it up nice and loose.

I prefer to plant my bulbs in groupings instead of lines. That is of course totally up to you!

Make sure and plant your bulbs pointy side up! If you accidentally plant them upside down they should still sprout, but it just might take them longer.

Bulbs also like to naturalize, so keep this in mind. They’ll multiply! Here are a few images of the Muscari that had babies. I split them apart and gave them each their own space. Almost every one of the Muscari bulbs had a baby attached. They do love to multiply!

I remember growing up, we mowed over the ones that spread out into the lawn. They are such fun plants for kids too. We used to always pop off all of the little blossoms. I anticipate my daughter finding joy in the same simple thing.

Your bulbs will be happiest with a little bulb fertilizer mixed in the soil. Unfortunately for these little guys, I had used up all of my fertilizer on the other bulbs. They’ll just have to tough it out and wait till next year!

Cover your bulbs back over with soil and settle them in under a nice layer of leaves/mulch. There you have it! Now you’ll have fall bulbs for spring blooms. Come spring you will have a beautiful array of flowers and that makes my heart happy!

Happy Trails and Happy Planting!

Tiffany