Gardeners must act now to grow ‘perfect tulips’ ready for Spring
It’s no secret that the winter is a dreary time of year, esepcially when it comes to our gardens.
The wind and rain can leave them looking a little worse for wear, but there are steps you can take to make sure they bloom with beauty during the Spring. Ish, known as gardening.with.ish on TikTok, is known for sharing gardening advice online.
In a recent video he said now is the “perfect time” to plant some tulips. He said it’s super easy to do, as long as you put the preparation work in. If you follow his simple steps, you should be left with amazing blooms during the later Spring months. To start, he said tulips don’t like being kept in wet soil, so drainage is key with this flower.
Ish sugggested it’s “ideal” to have a hole at the bottom of your pot to allow excess water to drain away. He then adds a little bit of gravel to the bottom.
In the video, he explained: “The soil I’m putting in is just some regular, multi-purpose compost, and I’ll line about the first two or three inches with it. Now, you can add some grit into it to give a little bit more drainage in the soil, but I find a bit of regular multi-purpose seems to work fine for me.
“With my bottom layer of compost in, the next thing I want to do is start putting my tulip bulbs in. A lot of people ask me what is the ideal depth to plant tulip bulbs.
“The rule of thumb is usually about two or three times the height of the bulb so, I’ll pop this around about three or four inches below the soil level. I’ll line it out on the bottom here.”
He then shows the pot to the camera so he can teach people how to space out the bulbs. According to Ish, they shouldn’t be touching each other or the edge of the pot.
Following these rules will enable you to get a “fantastic set of flowers”, and it really is that easy. All that’s left to do is top off the tulips with some more compost to cover them over.
Before moving them to the desired location, he said he’d give the pot a water. You should then occasionally water them throughout the winter, but they should keep well without too much interference.
He said, if you ensure the bulbs don’t touch the pot, this will protect them from being damaged by frost. All in all, the simple planting method should be fool-proof.
Ish noted another top tip is to ensure the pointed side of the bulb faces upwards when planting. This will make sure your plants grow as well as they can.
Experts say you should plant tulips in October or November to get the best results. You can plant them as late as December or January, and still see beautiful blooms in Spring, but it’s best to get into action as soon as you can.
