Spring Bulbs Now

a bowl full of simple

I know you are wondering why in the heck I’m writing about Spring tulips today.  But in fact, this is exactly when you should be thinking about your spring bulbs.  If you would like to have tulips in your garden come spring, you will need to do a little work now.  In warmer climates like California, where the ground doesn’t freeze for the winter, you will need to trick your bulbs into thinking that they are indeed, frozen in the earth.  To do this, you need to buy your bulbs now and store them in a paper bag in your refrigerator for 4-6 weeks before planting.  To help myself remember this, I typically buy my bulbs right before Halloween and plant sometime between Thanksgiving and December 1st.  If you live in colder climates where the frost is coming, you can forgo the refrigerator part and simply plant now for a beautiful show of tulips come spring!

a bowl full of simple

You can plant them in the ground or in raised garden beds.  The year this photo was taken, I did all white tulips which was incredibly fresh and pretty.  In the photo below, I planted a mixture of all different varieties that year.  I change it up.  The nice thing is that when planted en masse like this, the tulips always look lovely and make for terrific cutting flowers too.

a bowl full of simple

Kids love planting in the garden.  A lot more than weeding of course.  For bulbs, they are particularly interested in using one of those bulb planting tools that pull out about 4 inches of soil making the perfect spot for planting a bulb.  And with tulips, the more the merrier.  The only way you can go wrong is by planting too few.

I am also including a link to my post this summer about raised garden beds.  When the tulips are done, this bed becomes a tomato and herb garden.  Get your bulbs today, wrap them up in the fridge until Dec.1st and you will thank me this spring!

a bowl full of simple

11 Comments

  1. Oh my goodness the beauty here is blinding– love it!

    Aloha,
    I’m oh so very lucky to be a Bloggy Mom with ya and I’m following you now from the November hop. I’d love it if you’d join me for the ride at Local Sugar Hawaii where we’re riding the wave of life, one teensy tinsy adventure at a time.

    And I wanted to personally invite you to join me, today, for An Aloha Affair; a new sort of being together on Aloha Friday. Come mingle and grow with us.

    xo,
    Nicole
    localsugarhawaii.com

    P.S. If for some reason my “subscription” didn’t go through please let me know and I will come back to try again, wanna be sure to follow along here.

    1. Thank you so much for you nice note. I’ll be sure to take a look at your site! welcome to A Bowl Full of Simple.

  2. Just stopping by from Bloggy Moms blog hop.
    Your tulips look lovely – I always forget to put my bulbs in, hope I’m not too late to do it here – thanks for the reminder!

  3. Pingback: In the Garden
  4. Found your blog with the Bloggy Mom’s blog hop too. I’m so jealous of your flower bed. I live in Canada. Everything is dropping as winter approaches.

  5. Your tulips are beautiful!! I too live in Canada, and our cold season has begun. All bulbs are sleeping. 🙂
    I’m here as part of the Bloggy Moms November blog hop. I’d love for you to come over and take a peek at my corner of the blogging world, Embracing Grace.
    Have a great weekend! 🙂

  6. I’m stopping by as part of the November blog hop at Bloggy Moms! Love the tulips–they’re beautiful! Wish I had a green thumb. As it is, I encourage my neighbors to carry scissors with them on their walks around the neighborhood so they can keep my roses clipped for me. 🙂

  7. Pingback: Friday Favorites

Comments are closed.