Flower Bulbs – Planting for the Summer

June 30, 2010 by admin
Filed under Flower Gardening

When planting your bulbs, bulbotubers and tubers, you ideally need to plant them in the spring. Doing so will prevent damage from night and light morning frost. It is possible to plant bulbs up to the end of may. This will have your gardening blooming from June till October. You also need to make sure you plant in sunny areas of your garden, as bulbs like those areas. If you plant in flowerpots, you should put these in sunny spots of the garden too.

When is comes to the actual planting of bulbs, there a few options you can take. One of them is using special garden tools like a bulb planter. There is a rule that states when planting bulbs, it must be planted in a depth, twice the size of its height. For example, a bulb that is 6cm in height would need a hole with a depth of 12cm. However, there is an exception to this rule; Dahlia bulbs and a few others types should be planted closers to the surface of the soil. The best thing you could do if you’re unsure is check the instructions on the bulb packing before planting.

Depending on how dense you want the flower bed, it is possible to plant bulbs relatively close to each other. But in general smaller bulbs should be a planted at a distance of about 10cm. Gladiolus bulbs is 12cm, Dahlia bulbs is 40cm.

Next you to make your soil light and even. Summer bulbs may be planted in any type of soil, as long as that soil has good drainage. If you find that you have heavy clay soil, it is a possibility, and recommended that you mix the top layer of it with compost or sand. You can use peat or garden soil for flower pots.

Upon planting the bulbs, you must water them immediately because summer bulbs need a large amounts of water. Plus this will promote strong root growth. It is important that you keep the soil in a wet codition this time of the year, so if you see that the area in which you have planted bulbs going a little dry, keep topping up that water. However you should bear in mind that damp soil is a good breeding ground for weeds.

In the hot summers weather, it is not recommended to sprinkle bulbs and flowers with cold water as this may cause the plants to fall into the “shock state” and will not be able to accumalate the nutrients they need. This may also increase the the probability of the burns on the leaves. Watering your flowers and flower bulbs during the early mornings or the evening, should keep moisture evaporation to a minimum.