- Here at Epic Gardening, you know us
for growing all sorts of different fruits and vegetables,
but we haven't grown a lot of flowers.
And specifically what's in my hand right now, flower bulbs.
This tulip bulb almost feels like magic.
Put it in the ground in fall or winter
and then it just sprouts up in the spring.
But how do they actually work?
Let's cut one open and find out.
So here's our tulip bulb.
The first thing I'm gonna do is remove the papery skin.
This part is called the tunic,
and that's just sort of a protective coating
around the tulip itself.
This one is looking a little worse for the wear
but that's why we're cutting it open
for the sake of example.
So I'll take this little knife
and we'll chop it directly in half.
And you can kinda see what's going on here.
So here you go.
You've got the basal stem right about here,
this little sort of greenish area.
The roots will come outta the bottom.
Basal stem is where all this growth comes out.
The whiter flesh here, these little rings,
are called scales.
That's where all the energy is stored,
all the food is stored for this right here, the flower bud,
which, of course, in spring is gonna be coming up
through this center and sprouting out.
So we kind of get how bulbs work,
but I'm not really an expert on planting them,
which is why I brought
on Briana of Blossom and Branch Farm.
She's a new gardener here at Epic Gardening
out in Denver, Colorado.
We're gonna go to her, learn how to plant bulbs,
and at the end of the video also give away 500 bulbs
so you guys can start planting them in your garden.
- Hello and welcome to the farm!
Kevin, I'm so excited that you guys are growing
some more flowers over at the Epic Homestead
and I'm super excited to help you learn how to do that.
We plant over 4,000 bulbs here at the farm every spring,
so we definitely have a little bit of knowledge
in how to do that.
I'm going to give you all some information
on some things to keep in mind
when you're planting bulbs for spring.
(bright music)
Now, many of the spring bulbs require a chill time,
so that's 12 to 16 weeks
where the temperatures are at
or below 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
So in zones like yours, Kevin, zone 10, zone 9,
and even parts of zone 8,
it's not going to get cold enough
for those bulbs to do well in the spring.
So you need to pre-chill them.
You have a couple of options.
You can either buy them pre-chilled in the spring
or you can chill them yourself
by putting them in the fridge.
Just make sure you don't put them in the freezer.
Remember, you want them below 40 degrees,
but we don't want them to freeze solid.
So the fridge is a perfect spot.
Make sure you don't put them with your fruits and vegetables
because those can emit ethylene that can damage the bulbs.
I like to put them in a paper bag.
You can also keep them in mesh.
That way you won't forget that they're in there.
(bright music continues)
- My bulbs are in the fridge.
Unfortunately, they're gonna have to stay here
for a couple more months because I'm in too warm a climate.
I gotta keep 'em in until December or January.
But over in Denver, they're pretty much ready to go.
So Briana, show me how to plant these things.
- Now, should we be planting our bulbs in raised beds
or in the ground?
Well, the answer is you could do either one.
It kind of depends on a couple of things.
So in really cold climates,
the problem with raised beds is that they're exposed
to a lot more temperature fluctuation.
So when it's very cold,
the soil in these beds can freeze solid
and you don't want your bulbs freezing solid.
We want them chilled, but not frozen.
That's where planting in ground can be better
in very cold zones where you get frozen soil.
Now, if you're planting in a warmer climate,
a raised bed can actually be a great option
because it's going to help with drainage.
So bulbs don't like to be wet and soggy
because that can lead to rot.
So this is where raised beds can be a great advantage,
especially in warmer climates.
And like we mentioned,
bulbs appreciate good drainage,
which is where raised beds can come in handy.
If you're planting in the ground,
make sure you're not planting into heavy clay.
And if you're planting in a low zone,
you might wanna raise that soil up a little bit
to help with the drainage.
If you're planting in ground into clay soil,
another thing that can help is adding some organic matter
into the soil, like a good high-quality homemade compost.
(bright music continues)
Another thing that you're gonna wanna consider
when you're planting bulbs is the sunlight.
So for the most part, people recommend full sun for bulbs.
Now in my zone, we have pretty powerful sun.
Here in Colorado,
we're close to the sun, and we have a lot of sunlight,
even in the wintertime.
So I find that our bulbs actually do better
in a little bit of dappled afternoon shade.
And that's because that will actually help our flowers
get a little bit taller and get a longer stem.
So that's good if you wanna be cutting
and bringing those tulips and daffodils and bulbs inside
or using them as part of your cutting garden.
I like to have a little bit of shade
because that's going to help those stems stretch up
to the sun.
But full sun will work as well.
You'll just need to keep an eye on the moisture level.
So let's talk about that.
- Out here in San Diego, it gets hot.
In fact, a couple days ago it was 90 degrees in October,
which I'm really not a fan of.
But, hey, I can grow year round.
The problem though is that watering becomes an issue.
So when I'm planting my bulbs here,
these ones are pre-chilled.
I wanna make sure that I'm watering in at planting time.
They don't have roots quite yet,
but as soon as they do, they're gonna need that water.
And then throughout the season,
keeping the bulbs nice and moist.
Not too much, but certainly not too little.
The problem I have now is I don't really know
how to space out all these different varieties.
So help me out, Briana.
- Now, when it comes to spacing,
we do give our daffodils a little bit more space
just because those are ones that will naturalize
in the ground in our zone.
That means that they will come back and re-bloom every year.
Now, you might think that tulips do that as well
and some of them do.
But some of the fancier double varieties that we grow here
at the farm for cut flowers don't re-bloom every year,
and their bloom quality tends
to decrease over the years as well.
So actually, when we're harvesting tulips here at the farm,
we pull the whole thing up, bulb and all,
which lets us get better stem length as well.
So we plant our tulips much closer together
than we plant our daffodils.
Because we're leaving the daffodils
in the ground year over year,
they actually multiply underground.
And so we need to give them a little more space.
But when we're talking about tulips,
you can actually plant them almost touching.
Depth is another important consideration with these bulbs.
The general rule of thumb is to plant three times
as deep as the bulb is tall.
So for things like muscari and crocus,
those are gonna be much shallower
than say a tulip or a daffodil bulb,
which tend to be larger.
So let's say this is the bulb I'm going to be planting.
I'm going to measure the height.
I'm just gonna eyeball this,
but you can use a ruler if you want to.
I'm going to measure the height
and I'm going to go three times that high
from the top of the bulb.
So here we have the bulb.
We're gonna start here.
One, two, three.
So this bulb is gonna sit
about this far below the soil level.
Now, if you're planting these into a raised bed,
you do not have to plant them as deeply,
mostly because you're not worrying about your soil freezing.
You're probably planting pre-chilled bulbs in the spring
which means you're not concerned
about soil freezing like we are.
However, you also don't wanna plant too shallowly
because that can lead to things like digging up by animals.
And let's talk a little bit about how to prevent that last.
Animals digging around and digging up your bulbs
and eating them can definitely be a big concern,
and it happens a lot.
There are a couple ways you can prevent this
and one has to do with what fertilizer you use.
Let's talk quickly about fertilizing
because that is definitely an issue that can be contentious.
When we're planting our bulbs here at the farm,
we do not use anything for a fertilizer
and that's because we've had soils tests done.
We know that we actually don't need to add anything
to the soil.
And in fact, a lot of bulb fertilizers
can contain high levels of phosphorus
which can really build up in the soil
and become problematic.
The other issue with using some fertilizers is
that the scent itself can attract digging pests.
So things that are gonna be attracted to your bulbs,
they're gonna wanna dig them up and eat them,
can be attracted by things like bone meal and blood meal
and bulb fertilizers.
Here at the farm, we're always focusing
on feeding the soil and not feeding the plants.
And so if we're keeping a nice healthy soil routine
in place, we shouldn't have to be adding many fertilizers,
if any at all.
And that's definitely true of bulbs.
If your soils test indicate
that your soil is deficient in something,
then of course go ahead and add it.
But you'll wanna make sure you put something in place
to help keep the critters from getting to your bulbs.
Now, we have a lot of squirrels this time of year.
It's fall.
They're eating our pumpkins,
so I know that they're active.
And I also know that every year
they try to get to my tulips, especially.
Daffodils for us seem
to be a little bit more pest resistant,
but the tulips are a big draw
and so we do cover them with a layer of mesh.
You can use hardware mesh.
You can also use insect netting.
Anything that's gonna keep those squirrels,
especially raccoons, from being able to dig in your beds
is going to help keep your tulips safe.
All right, Kevin, good luck with those bulbs.
Let me know how it goes.
- I love this idea of what's called a stinzen garden.
It's sort of a Dutch technique
where you cram a ton of bulbs in a small space
and have this beautiful explosion of color in the spring.
So that's what I'm gonna do here.
But if you want a chance to win 500 bulbs
that we're sending out to people in zones 3 to 8,
make sure to subscribe to the channel.
We're just picking from subscribers.
A way to give back to you guys.
Hope you enjoyed seeing Briana on the channel.
A lot more flower stuff coming soon, guys.
And until next time, good luck in the garden
and keep on growing.
(bright music continues)