How to plant tulips

Although tulips can be sown for almost half a year, it is well known as a good fall plant. I mean, you can sowing or planting tulip bulbs practically anytime between the months of September and Januarybut it is almost always recommended to do it in full autumn.

In this way, you have to sow and plant the tulip bulbs before the first frosts arrive, which will greatly favor the development and growth of the tulips. The tulip needs cold soil to develop properly, so a good time is when its temperature remains stable below 15 ºC. Planting them too early will cause them to grow too fast and the winter cold will kill them, while planting them past winter can cause diseases and fungi that develop in the soil to attack the bulb without cold.

In addition, it is important to mention that this bulb does not withstand long periods out of the ground, so it is better that you plant it as soon as you acquire it, or at most throughout that week, so that it remains in perfect condition. In any case, the sooner the better, especially if you don’t know how long it’s been out of the ground when you bought it.

To the choose the tulip bulb, try to show a solid and consistent touch, with a thin skin, similar to that of onions. If it appears very dry or withered, do not purchase or plant. Also, keep in mind that you can save them for the next season, that is, once the flower, leaves and stem fall off, the bulbous root is still alive and will regrow when conditions are right. In the meantime, here we explain how to preserve tulip bulbs correctly and below you can see it on video.

If apart from tulips you want to sow or plant something else in your pots or in your garden, we recommend this other article about 15 autumn plants for the garden or terrace that will fill these spaces in your home with colour.

You can plant your tulips both in a pot and outdoors. In either case, follow these instructions on how to plant tulips step by step from its bulb:

1. Prepare a soil or substrate with good drainagesince tulips, like many bulbs, do not support excess humidity.
2. It’s also a good idea to add some ecological fertilizer to the mixture, such as earthworm humus or compost of some kind, which will give strength to the plant.
3. Once the location has been chosen, which should be a quite sunny area, goes on to sow the tulip bulbs at a depth equivalent to three times their size. You can bury them a little deeper if they are outdoors and you plan to leave them there permanently, while in a pot you can plant them a little more superficially. It is very important that you leave the wide part of the bulb downwards, in contact with the ground, and the sharp or thin part pointing upwards.
4. If you plant several tulips outdoors, to form a row of flowers, leave a space of between 5 and 10 cm between each of the bulbs, so that they have land to develop well. If, on the other hand, you are going to plant in a pot, you can do it the other way around and put them together enough, so that they support each other when growing.
5. Later, cover the bulb with soil or substrate to the proper height. When covering the bulbs, don’t pack the soil down too much: keep it loose and airy. After planting, as always, it is necessary to water.

About how to grow tulips, there are not too many complications. these some tulip care tips which you can follow:

• They are plants that do not need much watering because, as we have already said, the bulbs do not want excess moisture. In fact, surrounding the surface of your soil or substrate with pine bark helps maintain an adequate level of it.
• In a pot, especially if they are very close together, the bulbs will need more water and a more regular supply of fertilizer.
• After flowering it is necessary to cut the tulips flowers, so that the plant spends the cold months with only the bulb. It is also important to locate them in an area sheltered from strong winds, as they can end up damaging the plant.
• Finally, if you live in a very hot climate, you may have trouble getting your tulips to bloom. These plants need a cold hibernation period of at least ten weeks, or they won’t flower afterwards.

In these other practical gardening guides from EcologíaVerde you can learn more about 10 types of tulips and How to take care of potted tulips, a topic that you can also learn with our video that you will see below.

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