Fall Bulb Planting

The best time to start our spring flowers is during our fall bulb planting project. We all enjoy seeing those flowers popping through the ground in the early spring and they are all coming from those bulbs we planted. In sunny Southern California, the fall bulb planting season runs from late September into early December.

The problem with living in sunny Southern California is, if we don't purchase our fall bulbs early enough in September we may not have the selection we are looking for in November. Our fall bulb planting season is a fairly long one, but we need to purchase those spring flowering bulbs early as soon as they appear in the garden nurseries or home improvement centers.

We, who live in Southern California, do have some disadvantages for bulb growing. If you want crocus, hyacinths or tulips, you may have to keep them in a cold, dry place before planting. It would be best to purchase fall bulbs early in order to keep them cool before planting. In the spring after these flowering bulbs have finished blooming you will have to dig them up and store them in a cool place until your fall bulb planting in September. Most of the other spring flowering bulbs don't need this regime. Because bulbs are considered a perennial, they will keep coming back to life every spring.

If you see someone's garden that has plenty of thick and bushy flowering iris, daffodils or tulips, you know that they had been planted many years ago, as they have a tendency to multiply over the years.

Before we start planting our bulbs we need to be sure our soil is ready to accept them. Having good soil drainage is a very important factor in raising bulbs. If our soil is heavy with a lot of clay, we will need to improve it by adding compost or some other type of organic material. The compost needs to be worked in to at least a foot or more of the soil.

The best fertilization that can be done to encourage the development of the roots is to mix the phosphorous to the soil, which will be beneath the bulb before planting. Spring bulbs should get about 5 tablespoons of 10-10-10 fertilizer mixed into the soil in the fall and again in the spring after the roots come through the soil. After the spring bulbs have started flowering don't add any fertilizer as it can cause bulb rot. Summer and fall bulbs should be fertilized on a monthly basis until they are in full bloom and their solution should be 7 tablespoons of the same fertilizer.

Selecting a location in your garden for the bulbs is fairly easy. Most bulbs need the sunshine and spring bulbs can be planted almost anywhere because they will flower before the leaves arrive on the trees. Most of the summer bulbs require full sunshine or partial shade. We also need to remember, during our fall bulb planting project, the depth of the bulbs we are planting. The larger bulbs should be about 8 inches deep and the smaller ones only about 3-4 inches deep.