I’m a gardening expert – follow my key step to take now to ensure bigger and more vibrant tulip blooms next spring
GARDENING experts have revealed a key step you should take now to ensure your tulips bloom bigger and brighter next spring.
Tulips are some of the earliest spring bulbs to flower, and brighten up parks and gardens across the country in March and April.
They are also very low maintenance to look after, meaning that they are an obvious choice for many gardening lovers.
Because they are some of the earliest to flower, tulips are also some of the first spring flowers to droop, and you may notice that yours start to look a little past their best, as May approaches.
Gardening expert, Steve Clinton, explained a key step that you should take after they have finished flowering.
He said: “`Just like with daffodils, it’s really important to deadhead the flowers as soon as tulips have finished flowering.
“This will help the plant conserve energy.”
When you notice that the flowers are beginning to die, simply pull off the heads with your fingers.
Gardening expert Craig Morley, added that whilst you are doing this, you should also snap off the seed pod, and place both in your compost heap.
He said: “‘This ensures that energy is returned to the bulb and stops them from wasting energy on producing seeds”.
Although you may be tempted to cut back the green foliage after deadheading your plants, Steve explained that this is the worst thing that you can do for them.
He said that doing this will restrict the plant’s ability to gather food and nutrients, meaning that next year’s blooms won’t be as big and vibrant.
He added: “You should wait until the foliage has died back and turned yellow before you do anything with it.
“When the leaves are green, this means that they are still gathering energy that’s then stored in the bulb for next year’s blooms”.
The gardening expert added that you should make sure to fertilise the plants throughout the year and make sure they don’t dry out.
He said: “‘I don’t recommend watering them too much, as tulips can be susceptible to rot if the soil around them continues to be very wet after flowering.
“Unless it’s particularly dry weather-wise, you shouldn’t need to water them.”
After the flowers die, the leaves of your tulips should turn yellow after about six weeks.
May gardening jobs
The Sun's Gardening Editor, Veronica Lorraine, has shared the tasks you need to crack on with in May.
GARDEN growth can go from nought to ninety in May, depending on the weather. The last UK frosts are generally seen at the beginning of the month, so all of a sudden there’s so much more to do and grow.
Plant out dahlia tubers
It’s a joy to finally plant out your dahlia tubers. Remember how big they can get – and space accordingly – anything up to half a metre apart.
It’s a good idea to put your support stakes in now instead of trying to work around them.
And make sure you include lots of well rotted manure or decent compost to feed it and then mulch to keep it moist and suppress weeds. They generally start blooming in July.
Final feed to Spring flowers
You can give a cheeky feed to all your remaining tulips and daffodils.
Although the majority of bulbs aren’t guaranteed to come back year after year any more, as long as you’ve left them to die back naturally there’s a good chance they’ll have stored enough energy to come back again. Tomato feed is fine.
Tie up climbers
Your clematis, honeysuckle and rambling roses should be well on their way by now – try to use plastic free string to tie them back into their support, or tuck them round each other to make sure they don’t sprout off in crazy directions.
Feed the lawn
It’s not too late to give your lawn a good feed.
Whether you use granular or liquid, it can give it a good boost to see it through the harsher summer months.
While mowing, don’t go too low with your cut length yet and never take more than a third off the grass height.
Get creative
It’s also time to get creative with hanging baskets and pots.
Trailing pelargoniums, which a lot of people call geraniums, and Begonias are a good, low cost way of getting lovely returning blooms throughout the summer in your baskets.
And pots can be planted with spring bulbs.
Don’t forget the greenhouse!
Give your greenhouse a good tidy and clean the glass inside and out.
The improved light will help plants grow quicker inside and tidying is good for the soul.
You can just use a household white wine vinegar and water solution – or even neat if you’re feeling spendy – which gives a really good shine.
At this point, you can cut back the foliage.
You can then either leave the bulbs in the ground until next year, or dig them up and then store them somewhere until it’s time to plant them again.
“To do this, all you have to do is lift out the bulb with a small gardening fork once you’ve removed all the dead foliage”, Steve said.
“I recommend removing the stem, as well as the first outer layer of the bulb (this is normally a bit crispy).
“You should then store them in a cool, dry place until next season.
“This could be in a dry paper bag, in a cupboard, or hessian bag”.
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