{"id":11064,"date":"2018-10-20T20:52:45","date_gmt":"2018-10-21T00:52:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=11064"},"modified":"2018-10-20T20:52:45","modified_gmt":"2018-10-21T00:52:45","slug":"no-dig-planting-of-tulips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2018\/10\/20\/no-dig-planting-of-tulips\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cNo Dig\u201d Planting Of Tulips"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Mixed planting of Daffodils and Tulips<\/p><\/div>\n

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‘Pink Perfection’ tulips planted by “No Dig” method<\/p><\/div>\n

Digging lots of holes to plant 25 0r 50 tulip bulbs is a backbreaking chore. It doesn\u2019t have to be that way. More than a decade ago, plant researchers at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., developed a planting method called \u201ctop-planting\u201d. It eliminates all the digging and the tulips come back and bloom well for several years.<\/p>\n

Top-planting, also called \u201cdrop and cover,\u201d requires a lot less effort. I call it “No Dig Bulb Planting” and is a lot simpler:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Till the planting area 3 to 4 inches deep with a roto-tiller.<\/li>\n
  • Plant in a site with full sun and good soil drainage.<\/li>\n
  • Spread bulb fertilizer and lightly till in the fertilizer (optional).<\/li>\n
  • Set the bulbs on top of the tilled area (no need to press the bulb into the ground).<\/li>\n
  • Cover with 2 to 4 inches of composted mulch or aged compost.<\/li>\n
  • No Dig works as well for daffodils as tulips.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Do not over-mulch. Adding more mulch may result in less blooms. Any good garden compost or double ground bark mulch should work. Brent Heath, co-owner of Brent and Becky\u2019s Bulbs in Gloucester, VA recommends adding two inches of mulch in the fall.<\/p>\n

    Bulb Spacing:<\/strong> Tulip (or daffodil) bulbs that measure 2 inch wide bulbs should be spaced 3 times the bulb size or 6 inches apart. That\u2019s 4 bulbs per square foot.<\/p>\n

    Tulip varieties that perennialize well are recommended, “particularly Darwin hybrids” according to Brent Heath.\u00a0Bulbs will re-grow and re-bloom for several years after planting. Many gardeners may opt to inter-plant bulb plantings with summer flowering annuals, perennials, and vegetables.<\/p>\n

    Caveat:<\/strong> dormant tulips and daffodils like to spend their summers in dry soil. Too much irrigation during the summer months may rot the sleeping bulbs.<\/p>\n

    Gardeners can enjoy masses of tulips without digging a hole for each bulb.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Digging lots of holes to plant 25 0r 50 tulip bulbs is a backbreaking chore. It doesn\u2019t have to be that way. More than a decade ago, plant researchers at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., developed a planting method called \u201ctop-planting\u201d. It eliminates all the digging and the tulips come back and bloom well for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444,747,1319,605,1064,1138,626,853,716,551,625,843,812,729,1317,777,630,705,646,1063,113,455],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11064"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11064"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11064\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11068,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11064\/revisions\/11068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}