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Don’t get tricked this fall
Be careful opening the door on Halloween night if you see someone standing there wearing a straw hat and gardening clogs, holding a garden hoe. It just might be your neighborhood gardening geek.
It’s easy to recognize these avid gardeners. Their favorite trick-or-treaters are the little ones dressed like lady bugs, bees, sunflowers, daisies and garden fairies, and they always give them extra treats. Upon their porches are a dozen pumpkins grown in their own gardens from a dollar’s worth of seeds. And though they do give out candy on Halloween, they would really like to give out tulip bulbs with planting instructions to all the trick-or-treaters.
Tulip bulbs for trick-or-treaters? I don’t want to be tricked, so even I wouldn’t go so far as to hand out bulbs on Halloween, but I would advise gardeners to not be spooked about planting bulbs yet this fall. As long as the ground isn’t frozen, you can still plant bulbs for tulips, crocuses, daffodils and most other bulbs now on sale at garden centers.
Along with planting before the ground freezes, there are just a few basic instructions that apply to most bulbs.
Generally, plant the bulbs at a depth that is two to three times the height of the bulb and try to plant them “pointy end up”. If the bulb has no point and you aren’t sure which end goes up, you can always plant the bulb on its side, hedging your bets. Most bulbs will grow up and out of the soil regardless of how they are planted.
Keep in mind it is often easier to dig one big hole to plant a large number of bulbs in a group rather than dig individual holes for each bulb. Dig the bigger hole to the same depth as the individual holes and space the bulbs out a bit.
Avoid planting in straight lines so your spring blooms aren’t lined up like soldiers.
After planting, water lightly to settle the soil, then top off with mulch and begin the wait for spring. It’s just 142 days after Halloween!
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