Terrific Tulips

If you want to add that extra kiss to your spring garden arrangement, consider adding tulips. Tulips are one of the most popular spring blooms, both because of t heir beauty and their ease in gardening. The hardest part in planting tulips is coming up with the best arrangement for your garden. Plan where you want your tulips to grow, then follow these simple steps to make your tulips look amazing.

The first thing that you should know about tulips is that they are very forgiving. Even if you do not follow all the steps laid out here, you probably will still manage to have good looking tulips in your garden. These steps will just help them look even better. Tulips are best planted before frost, in October or November. When planting tulips, start by preparing the soil. This is done by removing all the rocks and weeds that could hinder the growth of your tulips. Mix in plenty of fertilizer in the soil, preferably a special bulb formula. Be sure to do this especially if you have sandy soil, since that has fewer nutrients for the flowers to grow.

After the soil is prepared, dig a hole about three times the depth of the bulb, which will be about a foot deep. Keep in mind that there are a variety of different bulbs you can buy at a variety of prices, but the bigger, more expensive ones will tend to have bigger blooms. Cover the bulb with soil. This should be enough to keep the bulb warm during the winter, but if your area has particularly cold winter, you should also cover the bulb with mulch or straw.

Those few steps should lead to great flowers in the first year. If you want to reuse the bulb, remember you can cut off the flow head, but do not cut off the leaves or pull out the bulb until the plant has died off. After it has completely died off, dig out the bulb and put it in a cool, dark spot to dry. After it has dried out, clean off the dirt and roots, and store the bulb in a dry, well ventilated spot. Plant it again next year and you will find your tulips look just as good as the year before.