I love tulips. They are my hands down favorite flower. When Brian and I honeymooned in Holland, I packed away a large variety of tulip bulbs to bring back with me. We said goodbye to them in Illinois, but don't worry. Both sets of parents have our honeymoon bulbs blooming in their yards every Spring, too. But our current house had one lonely tulip that bloomed last spring, so I had to remedy that! I have a quick tutorial on how to cut your planting time in half. Of course it involves a power tool.
You'll need a hand drill with 1 1/2 inch drill bit. You'll also need bulbs of your choice, and either bulb food or bone meal. If you don't have a hand drill, you could use this old standby, but it will take a lot longer.
The standard for planting bulbs is to dig a 4 to 6 inch hole. So get to drilling! I taped my drill at 4 inches so that I knew where to stop, but it's not necessary, really.
Drill your holes, spacing them about 4 inches apart. I worked with 3 to 4 holes at a time. Sprinkle in a tablespoon of bulb food.
Cover the food with a thin layer of dirt, and stick in that bulb!
Fill the hole back in, tamp down, and you are finished! I planted 50 bulbs yesterday in less than an hour. Special thanks to Brian, who always shares his power tools with me. And while I was planting? My visiting mother in law raked leaf piles for the littles to jump into.
Those leaf piles occupied them for the rest of the day. Hooray for Grandmas!
Are you planting bulbs? What are your favorite spring bulbs?
I wish I was planting bulbs! I tend to inadvertently kill greenery...sigh. On a more happy note, aren't leaf piles the best thing ever?
ReplyDeleteHow do you keep the squirrels from getting to them? They're such pesky little creatures around here. Can't wait to see how pretty your place looks in the spring!
ReplyDeleteHow neat - it will look so pretty when the time comes! :-)
ReplyDeleteI love the pics of the kids in the leaves. Maybe next year I will plant tulip bulbs. Did you forget to add the ceyenne pepper powder to the top of the bulbs and in the covering soil to discourage the squirrels. I found they haven't bothered the lily bulbs I covered with the pine straw.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip, Cathy!
DeleteGreat idea! And WOW, that's a lot of leaves!!
ReplyDeletePower tools, Ruthie...You GO!!! Looks like a fun day. :)
ReplyDeleteYay for tulips! It sounds like you will have quite a showing of them in the spring. My mom is coming to town this week-end and we are going to plant in our garden plot. Tulips, allium, and garlic :)
ReplyDeleteI'm too lazy to plant anything. If I'm feeling really energetic, I'll buy them and show my husband where to plant them. I love the leaf photos. So adorable!
ReplyDeleteI certainly did NOT look at the first picture and think you were going to show us how to plant tulips in pumpkins. Nope,not me. That would be so embarrassing. ;)
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