by Lou Manfredini, Ace’s Home Expert
Planting in October is key to beautiful flowers blooming come to Spring. One of my favorite things to do before Thanksgiving is plant tulips so when spring returns that first sign of plant life is right in front of our home. It’s a pretty quick task and you will be so happy with the results after the long winter. Here are my tips to have a great-looking spring planting bed.
- First, select what you want to plant there are all kinds of fall bulbs you can choose from in many different color combinations. For me, I like to stick to one color and I like that concentrated color look. My rule of thumb is you should plant before Thanksgiving or the ground freezes depending on where you live. In warm climates, you can take it all the way to the middle of December.
- Follow the spacing direction on the bulbs, you will want to place them closer but when they do grow, they need a little room to spread out and will look so much better.
- In the area that you want to plant cultivate the soil at least 3-4 inches deep and add some fresh mushroom compost this will energize the bulbs when the temps warm up.
- Use a bulb planter, like to dig the holes and drop your bulbs in the hole and cover.
- Once they are all planted sprinkle a little rodent repellant over the soil like Repels All or Shake-Away and cover all that with some cedar mulch. This is an important step otherwise the squirrels will find the bulbs and dig them up.
After that, you wait and wait, and wait for spring to come. And when you see those first shoots of life sprouting up from the ground you will be so excited.
Source: tips.acehardware.com ~ Image: Canva Pro
Updated: 9/6/23