When can I plant tulip bulbs?

Last winter was so warm, my tulips didn't make it. They all rotted. :( So, what kind of weather should I be looking for to planting tulips? I'd love to get some of the more odder looking ones.

Info I have is to plant them in the Fall so they can root. Sorry you lost yours last Winter. Perhaps they were too wet?

Skiekitty,

Make sure you do your soil prep work, Some acidified cotton boll compost and some peat moss will work fantastic! Use about 10% of each by volume of soil down to about a depth of 18". Water sparingly so the soil stays moist, but not wet, deep slow watering works best.

Place a little super phosphate in the hole mixed with soil for your bulbs.

Tulips should be planted about 9" deep or less. That could have been your problem last time? Your bulbs were planted too deep. Buy the biggest & best bulbs you can find. Do you know if the grower dusted your bulbs with sulfur to help prevent fungus & rot?

Speed up your planting and have husband head get a soil auger on a corded drill. He drills the holes and you can mix soil/super phosphate and plant the bulbs. I used a Milwaulke 1/2" Hole Hawg drill and I was still kinda tired after about 50 bulbs.

Power tools and gardening! HUH, HUH, HUH! It almost makes it sound like a manly man kinda thing! LOL!

Something else to consider, the deer are waiting expectantly for their spring candy! DEER LOVE TULIP BLOSSOMS!

Pew - we don't have too many deer in my area of Parker.. the coyotes chase them out of here. heck, we don't even have bunnies any more.

Reason why my tulips last year rotted, I think, is because it never got cold for the winter. In the middle of Feb it was almost 60 degrees. Check out this link showing what the month looked like (you have to scroll down a bit). I love Weather Underground's weather link!! :)

http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KAPA/2009/2/17/MonthlyHistory.html#calendar

Where are my coyotes when I need them? We have lots of deer and rabbits and gophers waiting to be eaten. I know we have coyotes -- I see them crossing the road and hear them yipping at night. Fourth of July they were just as upset as my dogs. But they must be eating dog food or something because our plant eating critters are more than abundant.

get coffee grounds from starbucks, and spread them over your bulbs after you plant them. The scent of coffee discourages the squirrels from digging them up, and the trace minerals + nitrogen are great for the soil.

Good to know about coffee grounds discouraging squirrels. Maybe they would discourage gophers!

Colorblends doesn't ship their bulbs until Sept 21. I didn't get mine into the ground until late Jan/ early Feb? I went out in mid December like I usually do, being a strict procrastinator, and the ground was frozen solid. I plunked them into my raised veg garden bed, and 90% of them made it. Oh yeah, I put coffee grounds them, as the fence next to the beds is a rodent race track to the neighbors, who feeds them.

Aren't veggie beds handy for flowers? I learned that, too. Did the coffee grounds help? That would be fantastic if they did. I am sure Starbucks would give me some in quantity -- and we produce a fair amount ourselves. The rodents are getting very cheeky at my house -- squirrels, rabbits, rats and mice and the despicable gopher.

Tulips like a cold winter and snow. If we have a warm, dry winter my tulips don't even bother coming up But when we have a cold, wet winter I get tulips I'd forgotten about! It seems like daffodils enjoy the warmer, drier winters, though. So, plant both.

Coffee grounds do seem to work. Learned that one from GJ. Didn't they used to pack coke in coffee to throw the dogs off, until they got smarter dogs? LOL

Yeh, maybe. Seems like I heard something like that some time or the other. I dumped our family coffee grounds on one of the beds currently being attacked by some rodent. Too soon to say if it has worked. Next I will visit Starbucks and see if they will share.

Silly me, I was thinking "What would dogs want with Coke, it's in bottles anyway..."?