Planting a few tulips

I’ve had such a busy two weeks, with two High School Reunions (10 year), and lots of driving. So sorry for those who have been waiting for an interesting blog!
I thought it’s high time that I share with you my ‘planting a few tulips’ experience. I am not sure everyone is aware of the history of tulips in Sutherland. Dominee Brink instigated the growth of tulips in Sutherland in 1926. He brought tulip bulbs from Holland and experimented with them. In 1929 he had his first tulip flower. He basically found that the cold climate of Sutherland is ideal for growing tulips, as they need extremely cool temperatures to germinate. Koornlandskloof use to grow tulips and sell them commercially, but due to a lot of reasons, they stopped producing recently, leaving quite a few visitors disappointed.

So, with this in mind, I decided to try my hand at a few tulips this year (especially since I don’t really have green fingers!) and if it goes well, I may expand – we have a large property. Perhaps I can gradually build on my tulips and hopefully have a beautiful garden that will please visitors. And if it doesn’t work – oh well, at least I tried!

Steps to planting tulips:

1. Google: how to plant a tulip? (for all those who do not know much about plants and find it hard to understand the information on the back of the packet.)
2. Follow steps found on websites (best is to watch a YouTube clip); I liked the good old http://www.wikihow.com/Plant-Tulip-Bulbs:

2.1 Choose plump and firm tulip bulbs. Do not plant a bulb that is soft or shriveled, as it may be rotten or dead inside.
2.2 Prepare the site
Tulip bulbs prefer moist ground, so best is to plant after it’s rained, in a spot that gets a lot of sun (can be a bit shady too)

2.3 Plant the Tulip bulbs
Use a trowel to dig a hole large enough to fit all of the bulbs that you are planting. The depth of the hole should be twice the length of the bulb itself. You can also plant them in groups of 2 or 3 depending on what you want.Loosen the soil inside the hole to help the roots grow more easily

2.4 Water the bulbs only if really dry.

Sounds simple enough? Not for me. I started early on a Saturday morning with a spade and my bulbs in hand, and it took me quite a while. First I dug a hole (felt very proud of this), found a lot of rocks and other strange roots, worked them out. Then I measured. Still not deep enough. Then I dug further, removed some more foreign obstacles, measured, and realised by now I was confused as to how deep exactly this hole should be… the packet says one thing, the websites also vary a little and the best option was to go with the hole being twice as deep as the bulb.
Eventually, I started planting my rows. I mixed the colours – first red, then yellow or white (can’t remember!) and then pink. Lastly I planted a row of mini-daffodils, just to brighten it up a little more and in case none of my tulips make it! I got my hands really dirty and I loved it!

But once I planted, I was unhappy with the hole again, assessing it as way too deep. But by now the sun was too hot, despite the chill in the air. And my hands were all dirty and I was actually sweating from my morning garden work. Half a day had passed, so I had no intention of digging it all up again. So I filled the rest of the hole with potting soil – figuring that it would be loose and soft enough for a stem to pop through(not that I would know).

After a few weeks had passed and I had almost given up when I noticed small green finger-like stems popping up through the ground. Finally, some of my hard work had paid off…
And by now the stems are about 10cm high. But will they flower? To be continued…
At least now you know how to plant a few tulips! But remember, if you do not get frost in the winter like Sutherland, you need to chill the bulbs before you plant them.