Tulip Care and Planting Guide

Tulip Care and Planting Guide
Pella Historical Village

1. Preparing the Beds - Spade and turn the top 10 inches of soil. Mound the dirt into a dome with the highest point in the center to ensure drainage. Place bricks or edging material around the edges of the bed to keep the soil in place and allow water drainage. Make sure there are no low spots that might let water form pools.

2. Type of Soil - Tulips like a well drained loamy, airy soil. Improve the soil structure with Canadian peat moss. Mix 2 lbs. of Canadian peat moss into each square yard of garden area. Heavy or clay soil requires the addition of sand to increase drainage. Tulips cannot tolerate standing water.

3. Planting Time - Do not plant tulip bulbs too early in the fall. Plant before the first hard frost before Oct. 15.

4. Planting - Dig individual holes, or a trench 6 to 8 inches deep. Add 1 tablespoon of bone meal to each bulb's hole. Place bulbs in the ground pointed side up and 5 to 6 inches apart. Cover bulbs with soil. After planting, water the beds until the soil is thoroughly moist to help root formation. Cover the beds with a 1 inch mulch of bean straw to protect the soil and hold moisture.

5. Watering - The tulip bed needs watering after planting in the fall, in early spring before blooming, and after blooming. Tulip beds require additional watering during long dry periods in the winter with no rain or snow. After the tulips bloom, keep the beds watered to prevent surface soil cracking.

6. Fertilizing - Tulip bulbs do not require fertilizing beyond the addition of bone meal at planting time. Tulips do not like overly rich soil.

7. Care Before and After Blooming - If rabbits are a problem, sprinkle blood meal on the leaf shoots when they emerge in April or May. Cut the tulip stems when the first petals begin to drop off. Do not let fallen petals stay in the bed, this keeps the garden clean and prevents blight. Nonflowering single leaf shoots are stragglers from weak old bulbs and may be removed.

8. Digging Bulbs - You can dig bulbs or leave them in the ground for 2 to 3 years. Bulbs remaining in the ground produce smaller flowers next year. In either case, plant annuals among the tulip foliage while waiting for the plants to die back. Do not cut back the tulip leaves. Allow the foliage to die down so the nutrients from the leaves can replenish the bulb. If you can twist the stem cleanly out of the bulb, the plant is dry enough to dig.

9. Cleaning and Storing Bulbs - After digging, clean the bulbs to remove old skin, roots and dirt. Store the bulbs on a wire rack or in a mesh bas that allows air circulation. Keep the bulbs in a room where the temperature stays between 60 and 70 degrees.

Copyright © 1997-2008 Pella Historical Society.