Caring for your flower bulbs once they’ve arrived
Planting season is here! A busy and exciting time at DutchGrown. The coming weeks this blog will be giving you all the best insights, tips and information to ensure you get the best results come spring.
Delivery time
The delivery van has come and gone, and you’ve got your DutchGrown bulbs in your hand. Maybe you’re a seasoned gardener who knows exactly what to do right now, but this could also be your first time planting your own bulbs, and you might be wondering what to do next.
Plant now
Ideally you start planting your flower bulbs straight away. DutchGrown bulbs go through a special preparation process, which ensures they are at their most ‘plantable’ the exact moment they arrive at your door. Find a sunny spot in your garden with well-draining soil, and plant the bulbs three times as deep as their diameter, three times their width apart. Now they can cozily sleep underground all winter while you go about your life, and come spring they will reward you for your care and patience with a colorful show of fabulous blooms.
Plant later
But sometimes life happens: random snowstorms, impromptu vacations, rain or a lack of motivation at the moment you receive them. This means you can’t plant your DutchGrown bulbs right away and you will need to store them in a place where they will remain healthy and happy until you can get them into the ground.
The first thing to do is to take them out of their original packaging. Storing them in the box they came in could result in them getting too moist and possibly starting to rot. Flower bulbs are breathing plants and need fresh air like we do. If you received your order in our black plastic bulb tray, all you have to do is take of the lid. The crate has enough air holes for the bulbs to breath.
Storage space
The place you store them should be dry, cool (but not freezing) and properly ventilated. If it’s too hot they’ll start sprouting, if it’s too cold they might freeze, which will damage them. So if outside the nights are already freezing, don’t keep them in an unheated shed or garage. At the same time keep your bulbs away from furnaces, bright sunlight and the top of electric appliances. The best storage spaces for your new bulbs are your garage, basement, a cool closet or a utility room. The sweet spot for bulbs is a temperature between 50-65 degrees F, but they will still be ok in a place that doesn’t get colder than 40 degrees F or warmer than 70 degrees F.
Sprouts?
Oh no, in spite of your best care and attention, your bulbs still decide to start sprouting. This is not ideal, but not the end of the world either. Just be extremely gentle with these bulbs, and make sure not to damage or break the sprout during transport or planting, as these might very well be the exact sprouts the final flowers will grow from.
You don’t want to keep your bulbs in storage for more than a month after you receive them, so once you get a window in your schedule or the weather lets up, do not hesitate to take the opportunity to bring your bulbs outside and put them in the ground.
Your own spring flowers
Do you want to receive an exciting package full of spring promises too? It’s not too late to start your fall-planting, so if you go over to our website right now you can choose the exact blooms you want to be greeted by when you’re looking out of your window next spring!