Can I Plant Summer Flowers in My Tulip Garden?

Tulip Calendar

• Tulips are among the first flowers up in spring, and bring color to late-winter and early-spring gardens. They bloom once and then fade, though, to die back in early- to mid-summer, depending on cultivar. This early fade leaves blank spaces in the summertime garden.

Bulb Storage

• According to Gardens Alive, gardeners who plant annuals directly over their tulip bulbs kill the bulbs with water and fertilizer during the dormant period. In other words, planting over the bulbs leads to rot, and from there to tulip death. If you want to replant the tulip garden with summer annuals, lift the bulbs out of the ground instead. Wait for the foliage to die back, then dig the bulbs and replant them in boxes of topsoil. Store the bulbs in cool, dry, dark places for the summer.

Annuals

• Once you store your tulip bulbs, reamend the soil for annual planting. Dig 2 inches of organic compost into the top 6 inches of natural soil to increase the soil quality. Add 5-10-5 fertilizer to increase nutrition, and plant your favorite annuals. Annuals are the best choice for this planting since they'll die back before tulip planting season and won't interfere with tulip growth.

Replanting Tulips

• Replant your tulips in fall when frost kills the annuals. Renovate the soil to a depth of 10 inches with 3 inches of compost; add bone meal or bulb fertilizer. Plant the tulips 3 to 4 inches deep, and with 3 to 4 inches of space per bulb. Leave the bulbs for the winter and look for spring blooming.