My tulip journey is a winding road! I didn’t plant tulips exclusively for the cutting garden until my third year, and I learn something new each season. I ‘ve planted tulips in my flower beds for years- to the joy of multiple deer and rodents- but growing for cutting proved to be quite different.
Fall 2023
This first year, common knowledge dictated the ‘egg carton’ plan. Dig out a trench, or in my case, a raised bed, and nestle your tulip bulbs pointy side up, spaced as though they are sitting in an egg carton, then cover.
The first year, I (over)planted about 1500 bulbs. It didn’t take long, maybe two afternoons. The orderly rows filled my slightly OCD heart with joy.
The tulips came up in abundance! And I learned:
a) This was too many for me because I did not have a Mother’s Day (spring 2024) selling plan. Unsold flowers are an expensive lesson.
b) The necessity of a cooler to store flowers. There were wayyyy too many stems to fit in my flower fridge!
c) An efficient way to store the flowers after pulling. As you see below, I dry-stored the stems (bulbs still attached) upright in buckets and made paper cones to try to keep the stems straight. It was not very successful.
d) Choose varieties and colors carefully. Do you see those really full yellow/orange flowers to the right? They are a peony tulip and I don’t grow them anymore. They are so top-heavy they flop over and often break off. Now I stick to a yellow/red/orange color palette. Surprisingly, the pink/purples don’t sell as well.
[I realized I never wrote a post about the cooler, so I’ll have to do that soon!]
Fall 2024
Between planting in fall of 2023 and fall of 2024, I read and heard about farmers who simply dump their tulip bulbs into their trenches or beds, spreading enough that the bulbs aren’t piled on each other, and covering them back up. This sounded easy-peasy so I thought I’d give it a try.
I cut back my purchases by half, planting only 700 bulbs. They easily fit in just one 4′ x 8′ bed and took me about an hour and a half, start to finish. I dug out a spade depth of soil from the bed (put in my gorilla cart), threw in the bulbs, and shoveled back in the dirt. I lay metal grating over the beds to keep the squirrels (and cats) out.
Spring 2025
Over the course of the winter I learned to expect a 20-30% loss of tulip flowers. This is natural due to bulbs rotting, missing some flowers during harvesting, some open too far before harvesting, or suffer insect and weather damage.
This was a distressing thought because this year, I would be at a farmers market for Mother’s Day! And I knew I would need all 700 flowers!
I did not get 700 flowers.
Is that not the prettiest tulip foliage you ever saw?
But was there a difference in the plants between growing egg carton style and dumping? Yes, I noticed a few things. It was hard to see natural attrition because the plants didn’t come up in rows, instead it was random and so I didn’t know if gaps were unplanted or if bulbs didn’t grow.
Not planting every bulb pointy side up didn’t seem to affect most of the stems, but there were some that grew quite crooked and for some it was difficult to pull the bulb up. It really is hilarious to see the stem growing from the bottom of the bulb up and around. Nature is going to do her thing regardless!
The tulips in the buckets in the cooler (picture above) are actually re-hydrating in water, prior to using them for a spring bouquet workshop. Since I was picking a manageable 60-100 stems every other day, I rolled 10 stems in brown paper and then laid them on the shelves in the cooler. This system worked really well for me. I easily kept track of how many flowers I had and with the stems fully covered and laying flat they stayed straight. Since I planted early, mid, and late cultivars, in different colors, I could peek into the top of the ‘packet’ and choose which colors I wanted to hydrate for bouquets.
Fall 2025
Last week I planted 1000 bulbs, neatly tucked in egg-carton style. I decided this is the best way for me since I am a small farmer and it only takes me a few hours. If I had a bigger farm, you can bet I would be dumping and spreading!
I dig out a couple feet of soil, putting it in the gorilla cart, fill with bulbs, then as I dig out a few more feet I lay that soil on top of the already planted bulbs. I work my way through the bed, finishing with the soil from the cart and viola! Ready for spring!
I got these bulbs from Leo Berbee wholesale and they are spectacular! Plump and firm. ☺
Do you plant tulips in the fall? I do have tulips planted in the landscape garden, among the daffodils. They are so beautiful. And daffodils are a favorite flower, I adore their fragrance.
Good luck buttoning up your garden for winter. Mine is a train wreck, but that’s a post for another day! Hugs, Pam