Your tulips will be at their best for years to come if you plant the bulbs properly. Are you still having questions about professional cultivation? Then delve into a compact and informative overview that illuminates all relevant aspects.

Tulip bulbs are planted in autumn

How can I pre-prepare tulip bulbs?

To ensure that your tulips start the flowering period with a vital growth advantage, you can pull the tulip bulbs forward on the windowsill. This method is also recommended if your garden is infested with voles. For this purpose, fill discarded plastic pots halfway up with peat-free potting soil in mid-January. Then place the bulbs at a distance of 15 cm and fill up with substrate up to 20-25 cm.

Keep the soil slightly moist in a frost-free, bright location. Within a few weeks, the first leaves will emerge from the substrate. When the tulips show off their first buds, place the flowers and their pots in the bed.

Where do tulips thrive?

The vast majority of tulip varieties prefer a sunny, warm and wind-protected location. This applies explicitly to the elegant noble tulips, which stretch up to 70 cm towards the sky. Plant the robust wild varieties here so that you can enjoy colorful tulip blossoms in partially shaded locations. Thanks to their sturdy stems and short growth height, Tulipa fosteriana and colleagues don't mind a little wind.

When is it time to plant tulip bulbs?

Autumn time is planting time for tulip bulbs. Impatient hobby gardeners can start planting as soon as the first leaves fall. However, this haste is by no means an advantage for the heralds of spring. In fact, the ideal time window only opens when the ground has already cooled down. Wait until the temperature drops below 10 degrees Celsius to plant the bulbs.

Do tulips thrive in any soil?

Despite a wide range of sites, tulips do not accept every soil condition. To get the best out of the spring beauties, you should plant the tulip bulbs in this soil:

  • Humus, deep, loose soil
  • Fresh, moist and with good drainage
  • Neutral to alkaline pH greater than 7

If the soil at the selected location does not meet the ideal conditions, soil additives will solve the problem. Enrich loamy soil with sand, while sandy-dry substrate is improved with compost or bark humus.

What should be considered when planting?

In addition to site conditions and soil composition, the planting depth plays a key role if you want to plant tulip bulbs correctly. That is how it goes:

  • From the middle/end of October, dig small planting pits in a sunny spot at a distance of 15 cm
  • In normal garden soil the planting depth is 15-20 cm, in sandy soil up to 30 cm
  • Place a tulip bulb in each hole with the tip pointing towards the sky
  • Alternatively, plant the tulip bulbs in small tuffs, 1-2 cm apart

Press the soil down firmly with your hands and water generously. A layer of compost sets the course for a sufficient supply of nutrients in spring.

How long does the flowering period last?

Centuries of cultivation of tulip bulbs have resulted in a breathtaking variety of more than 4,000 varieties. As a welcome consequence, breeds with different flowering times have emerged. When combined correctly, the flowering period in your garden can last for many months. Early varieties such as Fosteriana and Kaufmanniana tulips flower from March to April. Medium-sized varieties, such as Triumph and Darwin tulips, are in the limelight from April to May. The late beauties, such as parrot and peony tulips, delight us with their blaze of color from May to June.

What are the methods of propagating tulips?

When growing tulips, you have two methods of propagation at your disposal: vegetative propagation using bulbs and generative propagation by sowing seeds. In the hobby garden, the use of brood onions dominates, due to the rapid flow. To do this, get the mother onions out of the ground in August/September to separate the daughter onions with a sharp knife. Then put the bulbs back into the ground elsewhere.

In contrast, the sowing of seeds requires a long line of patience. To do this, leave the ovary on the tulip blossom after flowering. Two months later, the mature seeds can be harvested. After stratification (cold treatment), sow the seeds. Of course, it is not uncommon for 5 years and more to pass before the first blossom.

tips

It was tulip bulbs that created the first speculative bubble in history in the early 17th century. Tulipomania raged in the Netherlands until 1637, during which astronomical sums were paid for a single tulip bulb. Then came the inevitable stock market crash, which brought the entire economy to a standstill for years. The objects of desire have changed in the meantime, but the system has not.

Category:

Vegetable garden