Alright ya’ll, here I have to show off my early spring tulips if you will allow me. I have been telling you guys to get your tulips planted (like since last August) and if this video and picture(s) doesn’t convince you to plant tulips this coming fall, I don’t know what will.

Honestly folks, these beautiful flowers will give you a nice little boost in the early spring (ya know, like make you just feel good about life in general) and if you are anything like me, you will drink a beer with your little Dutch ladies. Yep, I am a total ate-up weirdo! I love lawns and landscape fo’ sho’ ! …and I love my tulips.

You know the best part though?… these are just the early spring blooming tulips (today is April 4 and I am in NW Indiana) but I still have 6 more varieties (3 mid spring and 3 late spring bloomers) coming up! Yeah baby!

If you are looking at this thru an email newsletter, you need to click the title of the article and come to the blog to see my short little music vid. Please check it out! If anything, it will help to instill the fact that I am a really passionate lawn and landscape guy who seriously needs some help! Let me know what you think of music selection! Ha! LOL

Here is the link to the article I wrote last fall showing you how to plant tulips. In addition, you may want to look at my vid about protecting tulips from early spring frost damage. We gotta watch out for our babes! (I have switched to a new video host because I got some complaints that the other one I used was delivering choppy feed…hopefully this will be better for you guys)

Finally, you should order your tulips early for 2009. Seriously, over at Breck’s Bulbs (where I get mine) you can order now for Fall time delivery! It’s cool because they will ship them to you at the right time for you to get em’ in the ground. They remember so you don’t have to. Order from Breck Here. Best quality, seriously.

Fall is the time to plant bulbs. A small investment of time now will pay off in huge dividends in the Spring, and far into the future. I have great respect for homeowners who take the time to plant fall bulbs, because it involves some careful forethought. It is also demonstrates patience in that the reward for the work comes months later, and not instantly. Surprisingly, most people will not take the time to plant bulbs because of the absence of “instant gratification.” (stay with me folks, there’s a “life” lesson in your future) But first, let’s look at the planting criteria for bulbs.

It’s really a very simple process. First off, the soil needs to be in the range of 55-60 degrees (that’s now if you live in the Midwest). This is the optimum temperature to stimulate the newly planted bulbs to begin to “root,” but not so cold as to freeze them prematurely.

I like to plant my bulbs using a paddle-bit for an electric drill. I find that the 1.5″ bit makes the perfect sized hole for a standard tulip bulb, and makes a clean hole fast.

You should follow the planting directions that come with the bulbs you purchase, but the standard depth for tulips is usually 6″. Place a piece of tape on the shaft of the bit at the 6″ mark to gauge your depth with drilling. Once you drill the hole, be sure to place the bulb in right side up (see pictures) and use the shaft of an old hammer to gently push the bulb to the base of the hole. Next, cover with some top soil and mulch…finish by watering them thoroughly.

As I stated above, planting bulbs, in my opinion, is the mark of the mature and wise gardener. Tulips and other bulbs are interesting because they “naturalize” or spread over time. Most species of tulips naturalize-when unaffected by rodents- via underground stems called stolons, or daughter bulbs. The new naturalized plants are usually identical to the parent plant.

Planting 20 or 30 bulbs now will bring 20 or 30 beautiful early Spring flowers, but the next year, the numbers will double, and grow exponentially year-after-year.

The Life Lesson:

I have noticed something similar with my kids. There are small bits or “bulbs” of wisdom that I’ve buried into them that seem useless to them at the time, but as they have aged, those bits of wisdom naturalized and are now producing some positive outcomes.

A simple, but important one would be how to properly shake a man’s hand. I taught my boys at the ages of 6 and 7 how to properly shake hands: firm grip, stiff arm, look the man in the eye, etc. When the boys were very young, it was kind of a joke to them when they’d practice what I taught them. However, now that they are teenagers, the skill has naturalized and is now second “nature” to them, and they shake hands like men. I can only wonder if as they become adults, the difference between them getting a good job or not will be in the way they shake the interviewer’s hand. It will be interesting to see this one naturalize exponentially over time.

A great place to view and purchase a wide selection of quality bulbs is here: