Polly’s crews plant thousands of bulbs each fall in anticipation of beautiful spring color displays. We want to share planting methods and protection tips to help you succeed with your bulb planting.
Full disclosure, we generally treat our daffodil & tulip bulbs like annual flowers, removing them completely from gardens once they have finished their spring show. This keeps them from being damaged or dug out when planting summer annuals. If you want your bulbs to naturalize, fertilize as the leaves begin to emerge, again after flowers bloom, then once more in the fall. After the flowers bloom, cut back the flower stem but “leave the leaves” until they yellow or become unsightly. This is the time the bulb is storing energy for next year.
Planting:
We suggest planting tulips in “bouquets” of 8-10 bulbs in a 1-square foot hole. First, plan out where your bulbs will give you the best show in the spring. You can use paper plates to give you a better visual sense of where to plant and estimate how many bulbs you will need. We suggest waiting until mid or late October to plant your bulbs. Before significant snowfall and before penetrating ground frost occurs. Dig 4” deep holes for each bouquet, fertilize each hole with Espoma Bulb Tone, plant your bulbs evenly spaced “nose-up”, backfill with soil. Next, protect your newly planted bulbs from foraging critters (deer & squirrels) by covering each hole with a mesh of chicken wire or heavy-duty poly deer fencing.
(Here’s a spring pic showing the mesh in place with bulb foliage poking through)
Cut your mesh cover approximately 6” larger in diameter than your bouquet and secure each cover with 4 metal u-pins (see image) which can be found online or you can make your own 6” pins from metal clothes hangers.
This should help discourage critters from digging up your work before the ground freezes.
That’s it until Spring!
Spring:
Keep a close eye on your gardens as soon as the snow is gone. Pay particular attention to your bulb plantings and remove your protective mesh as soon as the leaves begin to emerge. Roll up your mesh covers and store with the u-pins for future use.
Now that the leaves are growing, it’s time to start your deterrent regimen. We recommend a 2-prong approach. First, use a long-lasting Green Screen repellent bag, tied to the end of a short (18”-2ft) bamboo stake, and poke this into the center of each emerging bouquet just above the tips of the leaves.
(Green Screen replellent bags on short stake in center of each emerging bouquet)
Raise the stake as the leaves grow.
Second, spray the leaves with a liquid scent/taste deterrent weekly. Be especially vigilant when flower buds begin to appear (spray those too), and keep applying each week until blossoms appear.
If you are planting in rows or drifts of bulbs you will need to modify your protection methods accordingly and our Garden Center staff are happy to help answer those questions.
These protective methods particularly apply to tulips and lily bulbs but many types of spring and summer bulbs are naturally resistant to deer, rabbits, squirrels, and voles due to their taste or sap. Some examples include: spring bloomers like Hyacinths, Crocus, Daffodils, Scilla, Grape Hyacinths, or summer bloomers like Allium.
Find some spring inspiration here: https://www.pollysplantingandplucking.com/inspiration/