Planting Spring-Blooming Bulbs
If you haven’t yet planted all your spring-blooming bulbs, try to get it done soon!
Planting bulbs can be a a very labor intensive task. Every autumn, I plant thousands and thousands of bulbs around my farm. This year, I selected bulbs from two of my favorite sources in Connecticut - Van Engelen Inc., a wholesale family-run flower bulb business located in Bantam and Colorblends Flowerbulbs, a third generation wholesale flower merchant in Bridgeport. I always find it exciting to plant bulbs in the fall that you won't see for many months - it's such a wonderful surprise of color when they bloom in spring.
Here are some photos.
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- It’s that time of year again, when gardeners rush to get all their spring-blooming bulbs in the ground before it gets too hard. Spring-blooming bulbs are planted in fall, grow roots during the winter, and then bloom in spring.
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- I order lots of bulbs, not only for my farm in Bedford, but also for my gardens at Skylands, my home in Maine.
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- Here’s my head gardener, Ryan McCallister, sorting all the bulbs in my garden library where it is cool, dry, and protected from direct sunlight and frost. Ryan organizes them by type and then by planting location.
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- There are several different tools used for planting bulbs depending on the size of the bulb. My gardeners use T-handled dibbers, which are pressed into the soil to make holes, and traditional bulb planters with six inch barrels for removing soil and then dropping it back into the hole over the bulb.
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- There are also garden auger drill bits which are very helpful for making bigger holes or for working in hard soil.
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- Nearly every garden bed is planted with new bulbs each fall. This area is behind my Tenant House. The beds are bare and cleaned for winter, but they’re ready to be planted with hundreds of scilla bulbs.
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- We always add Bulb-tone to our nutrient-rich soil. The food should be a balanced fertilizer that has a good amount of phosphorous. Fertilizing spring-blooming bulbs also helps them fight off diseases and pests.
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- The fertilizer can be sprinkled over and worked into the top few inches of soil.
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- Bulbs need to be packaged very carefully to ensure they are kept in the best conditions during transport. They are packaged in netted sacs, paper bags, boxes, and plastic pouches depending on the bulbs’ humidity needs. They must be kept moist without being wet.
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- These bulbs are Scilla Siberica Spring Beauty. These plants produce produce three to four thin scapes with one to three drooping, bell-like, deep blue flowers with blue anthers per scape. The flowers appear in early spring just after Galanthus, the white snowdrops.
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- Each bulb is placed in a hole about three to five inches deep. The dibber is perfect for planting these bulbs.
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- Josh makes a series of holes in the space first, being very careful not to poke any bulbs previously planted in the area.
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- One by one, each bulb is carefully placed in a hole, with the pointed end faced up, or root end faced down. This is very important, so the plant grows properly from the bulb.
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- Here is a bulb positioned correctly in its hole. If it is planted upside down, the flower will still grow, but it will likely take longer.
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- Josh plants an entire section before backfilling, so he knows what holes he has planted.
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- Then he goes over the area with a rake, making sure every bulb is covered. The ground is wet and more rain was expected, so the bulbs also get well-watered.
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- Close by, Ryan uses the auger attachment to make holes. The ground is a bit hard from the recent cold, but it’s still workable.
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- This hole is at least six inches deep for larger bulbs. Holes should be about three times the bulb’s width and depth.
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- Once again, it is easy to see that the pointed end of the bulb is faced up. This is an allium bulb. Alliums are members of the onion family. The shape of this flower cluster can be round, oval or cascading, and the flower color may be white, yellow, pink, purple, or blue.
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- Ryan backfills the hole to completely bury the bulb.
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- And then the area is raked and tidied.
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- These beds will look so pretty come spring. I hope this inspires you to start planting some beautiful bulbs in your garden – there’s still time!
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