Tulips are just around the corner!

Tulips in a home garden are usually scatted throughout the flower beds, offering lovely splashes of colour for the spring season. This is how I've always planted my tulips...until I started growing for cut flowers. Its a whole new game when you are trying to grow as many of these beauties as possible in a small space!

Tulips, and other spring bulbs, come with an advantage over other flower crops: most of what they need to flower the next season is already contained in the bulb. This means we don't need to provide much, other than a place to grow, sun, and water, to bring them to life. With this in mind, we plant tulips very close together, like eggs in an egg carton, and let them do their thing. Last year, we used the trench method: we dug down about 6 inches, spaced out the bulbs, and then filled back in with soil. This year, we used the raised bed method: we surrounded the bed with boards, spaced out the bulbs, and then filled with compost.