How to plant tulip bulbs

A guide to planting tulip bulbs in your garden

With cup-shaped blooms and delicately veined petals, tulips make a wonderful addition to any outdoor space. These unique flowers come in an array of varieties and shades, such as soft lilacs, vibrant oranges, deep reds, or buttery yellows. You can create a rainbow of colour in your beds, borders, and containers by planting tulips.

Growing tulips in your garden is easier than you think, you certainly don’t need to be a green fingered expert. Read this step-by-step guide and learn how to plant tulips in pots or in the ground…

When to plant tulip bulbs

Wondering when the best time to plant tulip bulbs in the UK is? Autumn is the ideal season, specifically between September and November. Planting tulip bulbs during this time enables them to develop healthy root systems during the winter, setting the stage for a vibrant bloom in the spring season.

If you’ve left it a little bit late, don’t worry. Planting tulip bulbs in December or even January can still result in a stunning display of colours come spring. While planting them later may delay the bloom time slightly, it's still possible to achieve an impressive tulip garden.

Most tulips will flower in in mid to late Spring, so if you want to plant earlier flowering spring bulbs, consider growing daffodils or snowdrops.

Where to plant tulip bulbs

Tulips grow best in a sunny spot with low levels of shade. They don’t do well in extremely wet or waterlogged soil, so ensure your soil has good drainage. If you’re planting tulips in a container, consider adding grit or sharp sand to the compost to improve drainage. Tulips prefer neutral to alkaline soil. So, if the pH of your soil is on the acidic side (lower than pH 6), you could apply lime to increase the pH level slightly. Not sure what your soil pH level is? You can use our Verve multi-tester to get an accurate reading of your soil pH and moisture level.

How deep to plant tulip bulbs?

We recommend planting them about 20cm deep or at about two to three times the depth of the bulbs' height.

How to plant tulips

You will need:

• Hand trowel or bulb planter
• Tulip bulbs
• Gardening gloves
• Hand fork
• Multi-purpose compost
• Watering can
• Grit

Follow these steps for a stunning show of vibrant tulip blooms in spring.

Planting tulips in the ground

Step 1

Using a hand trowel or bulb planter, dig down into the soil to the appropriate depth to make a hole that is wide enough to easily accommodate the bulb. The general rule of thumb is to plant tulip bulbs at about 20cm deep or two to three times the depth of the bulbs' height.

Step 2

Improve drainage and enhance air circulation by adding a small handful of horticultural sand or grit into the planting hole.

Step 3

Carefully drop the tulip bulb into the hole with the pointed end facing upwards. However, if you’ve planted them upside down, don’t worry – tulip bulbs will move themselves to face towards the sunlight. So, there’s no need to dig them back up!

Step 4

Cover the hole with compost and gently pat down with the back of your hand trowel. Repeat steps 1 to 3. Tulip bulbs do not like to be overcrowded so only plant one bulb per hole, and space each bulb about 10cm to 15cm apart.

Planting tulips in pots

Step 1

Choose your pot, tulips can get quite leafy and bushy, so we suggest planting them in a large pot if possible. Tulips like good drainage, so make sure your pot has a drainage hole at the bottom.

Step 2

Line the bottom of your pot with stones or broken ceramic pots to aid drainage. Half fill your container with multi-purpose compost, breaking up any large lumps in the process. Leave about 20cm of space from the top.

Step 3

Position your tulip bulbs in your pot, with the pointy tip facing upwards and the rounded side pointing downwards. When planting bulbs in pots, you can cluster them closer together, so leave about a 5cm gap between each bulb.

Step 4

Once you’ve filled the pot with your bulbs, top it up with more multi-purpose compost. There’s no need to water your tulips. The rain throughout autumn and winter will provide them with the nutrients they need, and you’ll have an impressive colourful display come springtime!