When the summer gardening season really gets going, tulips have long since finished blooming. To ensure that the flower festival is repeated next year, we recommend returning to a historical gardening tradition. Dig up the tulip bulbs to skillfully oversummer them. We'll tell you here what advantages this brings and how to do it.
Why and when should you dig up tulip bulbs?
Tulip bulbs should be dug up after flowering in order to maintain a well-kept garden appearance and to make planting work easier. The bulbs can spend the summer in sand or peat in a cool, dark cellar before being replanted in the fall.
Take out the tulip bulbs - it's worth the effort
As the tulip season comes to an end, the appearance leaves a lot to be desired. If the tulip bulbs continue to remain in the ground, we will have to tolerate stunted stems and yellowed, brown leaves for a long time so that the remaining nutrients can be stored. As if that wasn't enough, the flower bulbs significantly hinder the planting work in May. These advantages speak for removing tulip bulbs:
- In the summer quarters, the leaves can grow in peace without spoiling the look of the garden
- Planting work in the perennial bed is possible without any restrictions, without the risk of digging up flower bulbs
- The tulip bulbs are safe from the threat of waterlogging during summer garden irrigation
Furthermore, you prevent the undesirable characteristic of drilling deeper into the ground from year to year. If tulip bulbs are not dug up, over time they grow so deep in the ground that they can no longer reach the sunlight and disappear, never to be seen again.
Dig up, hammer and store – How to do it right
Get the tulip bulbs out of the ground with a digging fork (€139.00 on Amazon). If the leaves are still green or slightly yellowed, the storage process is not yet complete. Place the bulbs in a box with potting soil. If there is still a free corner in the garden, dig a furrow there and plant the tulips close together. Water occasionally until the leaves have completely died off.
At the end, cut off the leaves and store the tulip bulbs. In the cool, dark cellar they spend the summer dry in a box in sand or peat.
Tip
The following applies to tulips for naturalization: it is forbidden to take them out. The flower bulbs only develop into a picturesque carpet of flowers if they are given the opportunity to reproduce. After the flowering period, small breeding bulbs grow underground on the mother bulbs, which then become independent and develop their own flowers.
