Bulb Planting Basics

" Hi, I'm Anne Neyland. I'm here at the Better Homes and Gardens Test Garden where we're getting ready to plant bulbs this fall. They're super easy. They're basically all planted the same way. Dig a hole, drop your bulb in, cover `em up with soil, and next spring, you've got beautiful flowers. Alright, so just dive in. Go ahead and dig a hole, drop your bulb in, and cover it up. It's that easy. Now everybody always asks, which end is up? Usually, it's the pointy end, but some bulbs don't even have a point on them. If you're not sure, plant `em on the side. The bulb's gonna know which end to grow up and which end to grow down. If you have a lot of bulbs to plant, here is an idea that will help you out. Go ahead and dig a big hole. This is gonna save you from digging a bunch of individual holes, and you'll have a way to plans a bunch of bulbs at one time. Dig the hole, and go ahead and place your bulbs throughout. If you want, you can even just toss `em in and plant them where they land. If you scatter them throughout, you'll end up with a more natural look in your garden. Go ahead and cover `em over, give `em a little bit of water, and they're ready to go for the spring. So, how deep do you plant bulbs? We get this question all the time. The general rule with them is you wanna plant it about 4 times as deep as the bulb is wide. For example, this daffodil bulb is about 2 inches wide, so you're gonna wanna plant it about 8 inches deep. This crocus bulb is about a half an inch wide, so you're gonna wanna plant it about 2 inches deep. One of the great things about bulbs, is because they're planted at different depths, you can actually plant a lot of `em in the same area and get a beautiful bouquet the next spring. For example, I've layered daffodil bulbs at the bottom of my hole, I've got tulips next, and right now, I'm adding in crocus bulbs at the top. So, next spring, I'm gonna have all three flowers coming up in the same area. You can either pick these flowers and bring them inside for a beautiful bouquet or leave them outside. Either way, you're gonna have a beautiful spring. Another great tip that you can do with bulbs, is to plant them in your lawn. You'll have a great little display of flowers coming up in your grass in the spring. One of the ways to do this, is just toss them out them out into your lawn, and wherever they land, go ahead and plant them. You'll have a real natural look that way rather than planting them in a row. Don't worry about mowing around these flowers, because by the time they're passed, it will be ready to mow. And that's your Test Garden tip."