Tulips and Daffodils, Oh My!

With the fires in Sonoma County this October, bulb planting was delayed. But in December, we finally finished getting our tulips and daffodils in the ground. Now we wait . . . It feels like the month before Christmas used to feel when I was a child. It’s hard to be patient, but one must be patient. So I spend much of the day dreaming about spring and how beautiful the flowers will be. Then I wake up in the middle of the night worrying about how many the gophers will eat!

We purchased our bulbs from ADR Bulbs, a company that imports them from the Netherlands where most of the tulip bulbs sold in the U.S. are grown. While we grow our bulbs using organic production methods, it is nearly impossible to find organic bulbs to plant. There is only one supplier in the U.S., (Wicked Tulips) and they run out of the varieties we want to plant almost immediately. However, we’ve heard some good news from Rodale about trends in bulb production methods in the Netherlands.

“. . . in Holland, attitudes and practices have begun to change, Dwarswaard says. Growers rotate their crops to keep the soil from being depleted by monoculture. There is a movement to reduce tilling. Composting has become an increasingly common practice, and integrated pest management has replaced the routine use of pesticides. Both growers and water-quality officials are paying close attention to the purity of water around bulb fields. These developments, driven by environmental regulations, politics, and economics, are raising awareness of the possibilities of organic bulb culture. . . . The Dutch government has restricted the use of neonicotinoid insecticides, which have been linked to the death of bees. Other systemic insecticides are permitted for use on bulb crops, but not all growers use them, Van der Veek says. Researchers are working on nontoxic ways to limit bulb-mite damage, such as cool storage conditions and a predatory species of mite.”

We’re happy about that and look forward to the day we can easily find organic bulbs.

Because we are in USDA Zone 9, it is helpful to chill the bulbs to ensure they feel like they have experienced a “winter” of sorts for best stem length and flower quality. After a couple of months of chilling at about 40-45 degrees (thank you Coyote Family Farm for the cold room!), the bulbs were ready to be planted in early December.

To plant the daffodils, we used a broadfork with tines about 5.5 inches apart to punch holes in the ground, placed the bulbs in the holes, filled them with soil, sprinkled our special mix of organic fertilizer specific to our soil needs on top, and finished it off by adding a 3-inch layer of compost.

For the tulips, we used the trench method, where you dig out a trench about six inches deep, line it with a bed of fertilizer and compost, and place the bulbs about a finger’s width apart, nestling them in the spongy layer of compost and wishing them well. It feels like sending a child off to college—you do as much as you can to ensure their success and then send them out into the world, hoping for the best!

Finally, early this week we noticed that the daffodils are up! Spring is not far behind!

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