How to Make a Tulip Bud

Choose an area with partial shade for your tulip bed. Use a mechanical tiller on the soil. Add bulb fertilizer to the soil during the final pass over the soil with the mechanical tiller.

Dig holes into the soil with a bulb planter to a depth of 8 inches. Space the holes 4 inches apart. Plant the tulip bulbs with the pointed end facing up. Push soil back over the bulbs.

Water the tulips with a garden hose. Add straw or organic mulch to a depth of 2 inches over the tulip bulbs.

Spread 20-20-20 fertilizer over the tulip bed 2 inches deep once the tulips start sprouting. Rainfall during the spring often provides the necessary water for the tulips, but supplement the rain with watering with a garden hose if the soil begins drying. Spread more garden fertilizer across the tulip bed once the tulips begin blooming.

Use garden shears to remove any dead foliage as well as the heads of the tulips when they begin fading. Do not remove the stems, so that they may produce new foliage and flowers the next year.