Planting Spring-Blooming Bulbs by My Greenhouse
If you live in the Northeast, there's still time to plant all those spring-blooming bulbs. In the New York City area, daytime temperatures are expected to be in the 40s and 50s this weekend.
My gardeners and outdoor grounds crew have been hard at work planting spring-flowering bulbs around my Bedford, New York farm. The bulbs are from Colorblends Flower Bulbs, a third-generation wholesale flower merchant in nearby Bridgeport, Connecticut. This week, they tackled the beds in front of my main greenhouse. In this area, they planted Spanish bluebells, crocus, and blue squill. They will all look so marvelous come spring.
Enjoy these photos.
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- Bulbs arrive in sacks, bags, and boxes depending on the transport needs of the bulbs. We store them in my gym garage where it is cool and dark until they are ready to plant.
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- Always be sure to add the proper bulb food to the bed. It should be a balanced fertilizer that has a good amount of phosphorous. Fertilizing spring-blooming bulbs also helps them fight off diseases and pests. Ryan sprinkles the beds with a generous and even layer of Bulb-tone and Bone Meal.
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- Ryan then tosses the first bulbs randomly across the bed to create a more natural appearance when they grow. Almost every garden at my farm is planted with new bulbs each fall. If you follow this blog regularly, I decided to create a more formal white lily garden in this area where I used to have rows of currant bushes. Many of these lily stems are still quite green and will be cut down to the ground once they turn yellow.
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- After each bag of bulbs is emptied, we save the bags for other projects, such as storing dahlia bulbs, which are removed from the soil after blooming and stored in a cool, dark room for the winter.
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- Because we have so many bulbs to plant – three-thousand in this bed – Phurba uses a crowbar to make the holes. The weight of the bar is enough to make the holes about six inches deep. The soil is already soft and well-tilled.
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- These holes are perfect for these medium-sized Spanish Bluebell bulbs.
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- Spanish bluebells, Hyacinthoides hispanica, are shade-tolerant plants that bear spikes of lightly fragrant, blue flowers.
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- This is what they look like in bloom. These flowers are bell-shaped and about three-quarters of an inch long. They prefer full sun in cooler climates and partial shade in warmer climates to avoid scorching. (Photo courtesy of Colorblends)
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- Phurba places the bulb in the hole, always pointed end or sprouted end faced up.
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- This is a scilla bulb or blue squill. These should be planted three inches deep and three inches apart.
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- Scilla bloom best when they are grown in full sun, but they can also be grown in partial shade. Scilla will not grow in deep shade. They are quick to plant and untroubled by rodents and deer. (Photo courtesy of Colorblends)
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- For these smaller bulbs, Phurba uses a dibber specifically made to create narrow deep holes.
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- Crocus bulbs are even smaller. It is very easy to see which end should be faced up on these bulbs.
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- Crocus ‘Tommies’ are purple-pink early spring bloomers. The four-inch tall plants have egg-shaped blooms that open wide in the sun. Planted en masse, they create a carpet of color in late winter or very early spring. (Photo courtesy of Colorblends)
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- Here’s Ryan cutting down the lily stems that have turned yellow. He removes the stalks at their base, cutting through them with shears. They will come back next year.
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- Then Ryan feeds the next bed with the same mixture of Bulb-Tone and Bone Meal. Bone meal is a mixture of finely and coarsely ground animal bones. It is used as an organic, slow-release fertilizer.
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- Once again, Phurba uses the crowbar to make about 1000 holes for the Spanish bluebell bulbs which are distributed randomly throughout the bed.
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- There are already many lily bulbs planted here, so Phurba is very careful when making the additional holes in this space. Bulbs can be planted anywhere in the garden as long as the soil drains well. “Bulbs don’t like wet feet,” so be sure to avoid areas where water collects.
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- Here’s Gavin planting the bulbs as the holes are made. The crew is excellent at planting, and works in an efficient assembly line process.
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- One by one, each bulb is carefully put into a hole, with the root end faced down. Don’t worry if it is accidentally placed upside down – the flower will find its way. It will just take longer.
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- Gavin gently pushes the bulb into the soil and backfills the hole. The general rule of thumb is to plant a bulb three times as deep as the bulb is tall.
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- It differs from one climate zone to the next, but in general, try to plant bulbs a few weeks before the ground is expected to freeze.
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- The bed is all planted. It will be raked entirely so it looks neat and tidy. Raking is also a good way to check for any missed bulbs – we don’t want to miss a single one.
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- This garden bed is all raked and looking great. I can’t wait to see all these bulbs erupt with gorgeous color come spring.
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