If you have ever seen someone grow tulips before, you will know that spring has arrived simply by seeing their tulips bloom in the distance, these spring flowers are a welcome addition to any garden because they come in various colors and sizes and will be able to bring in a much-needed seasonal cheer wherever they've been planted.
So whether you've planted them in large groups in the ground, in the raised bed containers, or display them around your home in vases as soon as they've sprouted, as a reward for all these tulip bulbs planting, your home space in the months ahead will be so much brighter, but how do you plant tulip bulbs?
When To Plant Tulips?
When to plant tulip bulbs? Now that's the big question. There are many varieties of tulips and depending on which type of tulip you plant, they can either come with single petals, frilly petals, or even luscious blooms that seem to resemble peonies, however, the thing that they all seem to have in common is that they all can be planted at same time.
Common logic dictates that most plants should be planted in spring just after the last frost so they can avoid dealing with the cold and bloom beautifully in late spring to early summer, but not tulips. Tulip bulbs require a chilling period of 10 to 14 weeks which means they should be planted in fall when the night temperatures start hitting their 40s.
Best Hardiness Zone for Tulips
Because the tulips need the cold, they do the best when being planted in regions with USDA hardiness zones of 3 to 7 to get their required 10 to 14 weeks of chill. They should be planted while the soil is still workable before they get frozen solid. But wait, you might not even live in those zones and yet have seen your neighbor grow tulips.
Oh yes, it's not impossible even if you live in a warmer region as long as you buy pre-chilled and pre-potted tulips. Besides tulips flower at different times from early, to mid or late spring depending on their variety, so you can enjoy their blooms all season long which makes buying these pre-chilled tulips a worthwhile investment.
Now you understand how to plant tulips whether in the spring or in the fall; now for the question, "How to plant tulip bulbs in the fall?" If you are a novice gardener having grown only through spring and summer, perhaps the idea of plants surviving cold weather sounds alien to you.
Well, luckily for you we're not just going to teach how to grow tulip bulbs in fall but also how to store and propagate them. Since you're a beginner, planting tulip bulbs in containers is an excellent way to enjoy these vibrant, spring-blooming flowers risk-free even if you have limited garden space.
Follow these simple steps in order to create a stunning display of tulips on your porch, patio, or balcony:
1. Wait For Appropriate Weather
Well, unlike most other plants where you could just plant them willy-nilly, tulips are a bit fussy about when they are planted so you shouldn't make any preparations until the weather is just the right one for it before you can get planting. I mean, after all, tulips are expensive so I assume you also shouldn't want to have your tulip bulbs fail to bloom.
If you have a soil thermometer then use it to figure out if your soils are hitting 40°Fs at night or otherwise simply wait until the first frost. Once you have the appropriate temperature needed, you should also try to find a good spot, ideally a place where there are at least 6 hours of sunlight per day.
After getting the correct weather, you can start making your preparations and any good gardener worth their salt will tell you that the very first preparation that should make is to gather and inspect your tools. Inspecting your tools in advance will let you know whether they are insufficient for the job or need any additional maintenance or preparation work.
After all, it is often said that a worker is only as good as their tools is to gather your tools and the best investment is in the tools of one's own trade. You won't be digging through the soft weak soil of spring so ensure that your trowel isn't flimsy and don't ignore the value of a good gardening glove as they help prevent injuries.
3. Choose The Right Container
Tulips will perform best if planted in a spacious pot or container, if you're not sure how deep to plant bulbs you should select a container that is at least 12 inches deep and 18 inches wide. able to hold the tulips comfortably. This allows the tulip bulbs and roots just enough space to grow, prevents them from being restricted, and results in a root ball.
This allows their roots to access the necessary nutrients and moisture to thrive and reach their full potential. If you plan to leave your pots outside during winter then you should decide on an even bigger container that is at least 24 inches in diameter and 15 inches deep to protect the bulbs from freezing.
Good Drainage
Since you are planting in containers, there is a high potential for water lodging especially in the frozen winter soil so good drainage is key for optimal health and growth of your tulips. This is especially crucial as tulips are very susceptible to widespread basal rot in their bulbs which occurs when sitting in waterlogged soil.
When selecting your containers, aside from their sufficient size, make sure that they also have adequate holes to allow proper water drainage and help your tulips thrive while preventing any potential issues which is caused by having excess moisture in your pots.
Now that you've gotten the appropriate weather, and the tools and have settled upon a suitable container, before you can learn how to plant bulbs you need to first get to preparing your soil. You can simply make use of the soil that is in your garden considering the relative hardiness of tulips.
But if they've been frozen stiff and solid, making you curse yourself in silence then don't worry, you still have one more option. You can simply purchase a high-quality well-draining potting that is mixed with some perlite and sand to improve drainage from a local gardening store.
Fertilizer
If you want to save costs you can make use of your own garden soil and mix it with some sand or perlite to create a good soil that is both loose and well-draining. However, sometimes your garden soil might not be up to par due to being nutrient-poor.
If this is the case you can simply add a balanced slow-release fertilizer to get the tulips all the nutrients that they need, in fact, this can even be better for the tulips because they thrive on slightly acidic soil which can occur by simply adding fertilizers to your soil as a result.
5. Place Gravel In Container
If you're rubbing your eyes because I didn't mention adding the soil anywhere in the previous excerpt, that's because you shouldn't add the soil just yet. Despite taking all the precautions regarding improving water drainage by adding sand and perlite, it can't hurt to be more cautious so we're taking this opportunity to improve drainage even further.
How are we doing that? By adding gravel, place gravel or small rocks at the bottom of the container and make it a layer that is at least 1-2 inches thick in order to help the water drain more efficiently and prevent any potential of your tulip bulbs from rotting.
Before you add in the soil completely you also need to place the tulip bulbs into the pot, make sure to place the tulip bulbs with their pointed end of the build facing upwards in the hole and arrange them so that they are close but not touching. A good rule of thumb is to plant the bulbs at a depth of about 3-4 inches with 2 inches of spacing from each other.
Alternatively, you could also dig a furrow and plant clusters of bulbs along the entire length of the container for a more dramatic look. After all, spring flowering bulbs look the best went planted in groupings but not overcrowded so they can still have sufficient space to grow.
7. Add Soil
Now, you have finished putting in all the tulip bulbs. You can cover these bulbs with soil, gently filling around the builds with more potting mix until they are completely covered. When covered, take your hand and tamp down the soil lightly to eliminate air pockets, but don't compact it too much.
Water the pot thoroughly to settle the soil and hydrate the bulbs after planting. You're not done yet, though there's a bit more until the last step.
Once your container is ready, you can just leave your container outside anywhere. Moving them to a bright spot isn't necessary just yet as long as it's winter because the plant won't have broken through the soil just yet.
However come spring, move your container outside to a bright sunny location where the temperature is around 50-60°F and gets a consistent 6 hours of sunlight a day, this could be a patio, balcony, or even a window ledge. The warmth and light will nurture the bulbs and eventually encourage them to sprout and bloom.
9. Take Care Of Tulips
Once the tulips begin to grow, should keep watering the tulips regularly to keep the soil moist but not soggy. The tulips will need a lot of water as they grow but as always, they're still vulnerable to bulb rot should too much water get logged in if the container doesn't drain well enough.
Aside from regular watering, you should also fertilize the plant every 4-6 weeks with a balanced water-soluble slow-release fertilizer to support their growth. Don't be afraid of the fertilizer ruining your soil because it won't, at least for the tulips.
After weeks of hard work following the sprouting of tulips on the first day of spring equinox, you finally get to enjoy the fruits or more accurately, the flowers of your labor in early to mid-spring depending on your local climate and tulip variety, and bring vibrancy to your garden.
Once the flowers bloom, you should deadhead the spent blossoms to prevent the plant from wasting energy on seed production as the flowerheads turn into seed heads. Tulips can be planted for seeds but it would take you at least 3-4 years to finally get the tulip to flowering size. Allow any remaining foliage to die back naturally to help store energy in the bulb.
If you are still insistent on growing from seeds, learn how to plant tulips from seeds here.
Can I Grow Tulips In Pots Or Containers?
If you want to grow tulips but don't have enough space or your grounds are frozen stiff and solid due to missing your timing then growing tulip bulbs in pots or containers is a lifesaver. Not only do they thrive just as well in the pots and containers as they do in the ground, but you don't need to uproot your existing plants to make space for tulips in your garden.
That's not all, most plants often grown inside apartment landscapes rarely flower due to lack of sufficient nutrition and space which makes tulips one of the few exceptions due to perfectly easily capable of flowering for those living in apartments, condos, rentals, and other locations that lack a yard and also allows you to adorn your balcony or patio with flowers.
So since growing flowering tulips from seeds can between 3 to 4 years, how do you grow tulips again for the next year? The same way you did it just now. From the tulip bulbs, only this time you will be making use of your own tulip bulbs instead of having to purchase them from a gardening store.
The tulip that you planted last fall will eventually create bulb off-shoots also known as bulblets, you can either leave the bulbs in a container to naturalize and result in multiple tulips from the pot in the next spring or you can dig it up and split off the bulblets to store in a cool, dry place until the next planting season in a new pot.
If you live in a hot climatatic region outside the 3-7 USDA hardiness zone and have access to tulip bulbs then instead of purchasing pre-chilled tulip pots which can be expensive, you can instead choose to chill or stratify the tulip bulbs yourself to save yourself a bucket load of money.
For chilling flowering bulbs, simply store the containers containing tulip bulbs in a cool, dark place such as a garage or a shed for about 12-16 weeks. Ideally, the temperature should be between 35-48°F inside the shed, make sure to prevent the soil from drying out completely by watering sparingly during this cold treatment period.
You can plant tulip bulbs in spring and they will still sprout and breakthrough the soil in a few months' time, however since they haven't undergone the stratification process, they won't start flowering anytime soon. Some of you, especially novice gardeners may be surprised by this fact.
However, you should also remember that tulips grown from seeds only start to flower from their third year or above and thus by stratifying the bulbs, you are essentially tricking the tulip bulbs into thinking they are much older than they actually are.
Don’t be surprised if your garden gets visited by hungry visitors such as moles, deers, and chipmunks who dig up your precious tulip bulbs. After all, tulips are still bulbs full of energy and nutrients which makes them a favorite wildlife snack so you should learn to keep animals out of garden.
The best way to try and protect your tulips is by using repellants near your tulips to discourage browsing although they will have to be reapplied after a rain. Alternatively, you could also plant tulip companion plants such as those with plant bulbs that are heavily disliked by rodents like alliums and daffodils.
