Once you have planted your Spring bulbs, you are not ready yet. It is important to take care of your Spring bulbs while they are in the ground. Just like humans, you need to feed and water them. For some creatures the bulbs are yummy treats and they are not ashamed to eat your bulbs. Find out how to take care of your bulbs and how to protect them from animals like deer and rabbits.
Feed your Spring bulbs
You can plant the Spring bulbs in regular soil and later add some compost or peat moss to the soil for extra nutrition. This is not necessary because the bulbs carries his own nutrition for the first season. Layer the hole with mulch to keep your soil moisted. Water your bulbs regularly during the summer, also to keep your soil moisted. This is especially during the hot days because water evaporates more during Summer. The more you water the bulbs, the more the nutrition flows away. So give your bulbs a little bit more of nutrition in the Summer. Never ever water your flowers in the hot sun, this way the flowers and leaves will burn and ultimately die. Water them preferably in the morning or evening. Remove dead leaves regularly so the plant can use all his energy in new flowers.
Protect your bulbs from hungry animals
When they are very hungry, they unfortunately eat almost everything. But there are some things and tricks you can use to scare them off. You can use some deeroff spray, make sure you buy the organic ones because some of them can be aggresive. We also had a lot of success with Blood Meal: after planting, sprinkle a handful across the dirt or pot and the squirrels stay out of it. Well at least until the next big rain… This especially helped during Fall and Spring when the squirrels are most active. Use chicken wire to cover your bulbs so they can’t reach the bulbs. Fencing and netting with metal stakes are popular solutions. When doing this, use high ones otherwise they will jump over the fence or net. Deer scare easily so place something in your garden that makes noise like a flag or is reflective.
Hopefully these tips and tricks will help you to scare the animals out of your garden and let you buy the bulbs you want.