Planting Bulbs In Fall

When to Plant Bulbs

You don’t have to plant bulbs straight away – if you can’t get out in the garden for a while, simply keep the bulbs somewhere cool, dry and dark (the garage will probably be ideal), until you can. Aim to plant most spring-flowering bulbs once the soil is cooled below 60 degrees. September or October are ideal for northern states, while November-January are ideal for southern states. Most bulbs, especially tulips, prefer being planted in colder soil temperatures because it reduces the risk of a fungal disease that affects them called tulip fire. Once your soil freezes, you will not be able to plan tulips at the required depth. 

Where to Plant Bulbs

The soil where you plant your bulbs should initially be weed-free and well-cultivated. You will know the soil is suitable when your trowel easily sinks into the ground; you will be able to remove soil without too much trouble. Because bulbs have everything they need to grow stored within them, over fertilizing isn't necessary as long as the soil is moist. We sprinkle bone meal and 10.10.10 over the bulbs prior to covering them, but this is a minimum treatment. Very heavy clay soils can be improved with grit or sand to ensure better drainage before planting bulbs, most of which don’t like to sit in moisture.

Bulbs can be planted in pots and containers. However, we feel that zone which have intense temperature changes like Iowa, it's not suitable. Many of our customers continue to have issues in zone 5B, so we recommend not planting in containers in this zone. Southern zones where the temperature is more tepid may have more success with outdoor container growing with pre-chilled bulbs.  Plant bulbs into fresh compost to get maximum impact from these colourful focal points. Containers should be moisture-retentive, yet free-draining. Sometimes adding sand or grit to the compost will help achieve this strategy. Plant the tulip bulb with its flat side outwards, especially those around the perimeter of the pot. The largest leaf always grows from this side, so doing this will produce a more balanced-looking container.

How to Plant Bulbs

Follow the same rule for all types of bulbs, dig a hole and plant the bulb at two or three times its height. For example, if the bulb is 2 inches long, dig out a hole in the soil that’s 4-6 inches deep and pop the bulb in the bottom. Crumble the soil you removed back over them to fill the hole. Make sure the pointed side of the bulb is point up to the sky. That is where the stem will grow from. The rounded bottom of the bulb is where it will root the following season. If you are curious about this process, dig up a couple bulbs in early spring to check on their progress. 

There’s no need to get the tape measure out when you’re doing this. It doesn’t need to be exact to the nearest 1/8 inch and bulbs are pretty forgiving. Bulbs have what are called contractile roots that pull the bulb deeper down into the soil as it grows. If they’re a little shallower than they’d like, they’ll usually fix it themselves.

With tulips, planting the bulbs deeper than the two to three times their height rule can encourage them to re-flower the following year, so that is also worth trying. The big advantage of deeper planting is to minimise the number of offset bulbs produced. More energy is devoted to feeding next year’s flower bulb..

Making sure daffodils are deep enough is important too. The biggest cause of daffodils not producing flowers is shallow planting. It also causes smaller flowers in following years. Since Daffodil bulbs are larger, 4.5-6 inches, which means they need 4.5 inches in the least above them. 

Planting in Groupings & Meadows

Planting groups always look better than single bulbs dotted about. At Barnswallow, we like to plant in 5-10 bulb grouping in our simple cottage garden, sprinkling pops of coloring all over. However, you can plant in high density groups like edge boards or full tulip beds like Pella Time Time for a wow effect. Low density planting will give more of a natural effect than high density planting. Scattering bulbs with no system per say will give a more natural effect than isolated clumps every so often through the border.

If you’re planting into lawns to create a bulb meadow, you can throw a handful of bulbs onto the turf and then plant where they fall to create a random, scattered effect. Use a trowel to plant each bulb singly, or remove a rectangle of turf and plant several, smaller bulbs such as crocus into the soil below, before you put the turf back on top. Power tools with small augers are great assistant tools for this job. 

What Could Go Wrong?

Barnswallow hears most complaints about planting depth and wildlife issues. Bulbs are pretty self-sufficient and once planted, don’t need much looking after. If squirrels are a real nuisance in your garden, and you find they dig up bulbs after planting, you could try covering a group of just-planted bulbs with a small piece of chicken wire before replacing the soil, or putting a disc of chicken wire over the top of containers of bulbs. Many gardeners report success with chilli powder and other wildlife detouring solutions. Squirrels seem to like crocus and tulips especially so it’s worth concentrating your efforts on those. To protect our bulbs at Barnswallow, we put up panel fending or chicken wire, while planting strategically planting our bulbs on the busy road side where deer don't like to visit. 

What Do I Do Once They’ve Flowered?

Always let bulb foliage die down and fully wither before you remove it. This replenishes the bulb’s stores so that it flowers the following year. Heaps of yellowing leaves can look unsightly in a border, so plan companions with disguise in mind. Pair bulbs with perennials that form clumps of fresh leaves in spring. Examples of these can be found in our bare root perennials like hardy perennial geraniums, masterwort, oriental poppies . These are nice companion plants and will hide the dying foliage on the bulbs. 

Also remember that you will have to leave areas of bulb meadow unmown until the foliage has fully died back. Normally at least six weeks after flowering. There’s lots more after-flowering advice in our after planting full guide.