 |
- Preparing the Beds - Spade and turn the top 10 inches of soil. Mound the dirt into
a dome with the highest point in the center to ensure drainage. Place bricks or
edging material around the edges of the bed to keep the soil in place and allow water
drainage. Make sure there are no low spots that might let water form pools.
- Type of Soil -
Tulips like a well drained loamy, airy soil. Improve the soil structure with
Canadian peat moss. Mix 2 lbs. of Canadian peat moss into each square yard of garden
area. Heavy or clay soil requires the addition of sand to increase drainage.
Tulips cannot tolerate standing water.
- Planting Time -
Do not plant tulip bulbs too early in the fall. Plant
before the first hard frost before Oct. 15.
- Planting - Dig
individual holes, or a trench 6 to 8 inches deep. Add 1 tablespoon of bone meal to
each bulb's hole. Place bulbs in the ground pointed side up and 5 to 6 inches apart.
Cover bulbs with soil. After planting, water the beds until the soil is
thoroughly moist to help root formation. Cover the beds with a 1 inch mulch of bean
straw to protect the soil and hold moisture.
- Watering - The
tulip bed needs watering after planting in the fall, in early spring before blooming, and
after blooming. Tulip beds require additional watering during long dry periods in
the winter with no rain or snow. After the tulips bloom, keep the beds watered to
prevent surface soil cracking.
- Fertilizing - Tulip
bulbs do not require fertilizing beyond the addition of bone meal at planting time.
Tulips do not like overly rich soil.
- Care Before and After Blooming - If rabbits are a problem, sprinkle blood meal on the leaf shoots
when they emerge in April or May. Cut the tulip stems when the first petals begin to
drop off. Do not let fallen petals stay in the bed, this keeps the garden clean and
prevents blight. Nonflowering single leaf shoots are stragglers from weak old bulbs
and may be removed.
- Digging Bulbs - You can dig bulbs or leave them in the ground for 2 to 3 years.
Bulbs remaining in the ground produce smaller flowers next year. In either
case, plant annuals among the tulip foliage while waiting for the plants to die
back. Do not cut back the tulip leaves. Allow the foliage to die down so the
nutrients from the leaves can replenish the bulb. If you can twist the stem cleanly
out of the bulb, the plant is dry enough to dig.
- Cleaning and Storing Bulbs - After digging, clean the bulbs to remove old skin, roots and dirt.
Store the bulbs on a wire rack or in a mesh bas that allows air circulation.
Keep the bulbs in a room where the temperature stays between 60 and 70 degrees.
|
