Bulbs

I finally got around to planting the bulbs I received the other day. Go me!

There are two big questions I always get asked about planting bulbs, namely, ‘which way is up?’ And ‘how far down do they go?’

Bulbs, and often their cousins (?), corms, are fairly easy to distinguish between their ‘up’ side and their ‘down’ side but sometimes they are not.

The pictures I have provided are not the bulbs I planted because I didn’t think about this post until I planted them. D’oh! Rather, they are bulbs I found sitting in my garden.

You will notice they have their roots showing, this is always the best way to tell which is the bottom. Which really just makes sense.

(Please ignore my bad editing skills)

Generally on a bulb there will be a base ‘plate’ where the roots appear and often there is a ‘point’ or ‘tip’ which you can see or feel when you gently rub the bulb.

If you still can’t work out top and bottom, don’t worry! Bulbs and corms are incredible works of nature so if you lay them on their ‘sides’ they will grow up the right way! Planting upside down isn’t recommended, but they will still grow!

Now to the next question, how deep to plant? The general rule of thumb is to plant twice as deep as the bulb is long and the same distance apart. This is just a generalisation but it’s fairly standard. If you can’t find specific information, just do that.

One last thing. You might have noticed my helper’s snout in a photo. Never, ever let your dog, cat, child, eat a bulb. Some are ok but lots are very toxic, such as the very common daffodil bulb. It’s better to be safe than sorry.

Til next time!