How to Care for Bulbs

Careful preparation of bulb beds is only the first step in caring for them to achieve growth year after year. With a few garden tools and some initiative, you can keep flower bulbs healthy and hearty before and after they have flowered. There is no need for expensive chemicals; instead, you can use natural mulching materials and pest deterrents.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Fertilizer Water Organic mulch Hand trimmer Shovel or claw rake Water container

1. Add fertilizer to maintain planted bulbs after their first season of flowering as soon as the leaves start to emerge from the ground. Sprinkle fertilizer on the ground and water it thoroughly. If using a fertilizer/water mixture, be sure to aerate and moisten around the base of the bulbs well. When the foliage starts to bloom, feed it once again.

2. Water the bulbs regularly during the season. If the weather is dry or completely rainless, deep watering is necessary after the shoots begin to appear. This is important for proper flowering and root growth.

3. Fall mulching will insulate the soil to prevent extreme temperature fluctuations in the wintertime. Unprotected beds may alternate between freezing and thawing, resulting in bulbs being damaged and heaved from their planted spot. Organic mulch such as leaves, wood chips, pine needles or natural compost will protect bulb beds and nourish them.

4. Keep pests from destroying your bulbs and foliage by soaking strips of felt with Tabasco sauce and hanging them near the plants. It is a natural irritant to squirrels and other rodents.

5. Let leaves ripen and turn brown so it easily pulls away from the plants after the bulbs have run their cycle. This allows nourishment for the next season's growth. If your bulbs don't grow well after the first season, then removing them after they have finished their blooming period and discarding them may be the best alternative. You should replant new bulbs in the fall. Bulbs will continue to bloom for several seasons without replacement.

6. Divide crocus and daffodil bulbs every few years so the clusters don't get overcrowded and blooms will be healthier. Divide the bulbs in the spring when the foliage has started to turn yellow. If you try to divide the bulbs in the fall, it is more difficult to find them, and digging can result in bulb damage. Avoid bruising or cutting the bulbs when you dig them up. Leave the foliage on the bulbs after replanting them elsewhere.

Tips & Warnings

• Bulbs contain a season of food supply for their first year. Replant divided bulbs immediately. Snip the dead heads off blooms to redirect energy to the bulbs.