How to Freeze & Replant Tulip Bulbs

Tulips are the first flowers that bloom each year, signifying that spring has arrived. Plant tulips, with their beautiful blooms in an array of colors including red, yellow and white, along a sidewalk or a front yard garden bed to show off their beauty. Once they have finished blooming, the bulbs are dormant, according to the University of Illinois Extension. You can dig them up immediately after blooming has ceased in early summer to store them and replant them in the fall. This will allow you to plant something else in the space, such as summer annuals.

Spade
Paper bag
Organic matter
Ruler
Pine straw

Instructions

- 1
  Dig up each tulip bulb while the soil is dry, digging down deep enough to avoid injuring the bulbs with the shovel.
- 2
  Wash off the soil. Throw away any diseased bulbs. Let the bulbs dry for a day in a shaded area.
- 3
  Place the bulbs in paper bags in the vegetable crisper of the refrigerator for at least eight weeks, according to Bob Vila. Do not store them next to any fruit.
- 4
  Replant in the fall once the ground cools to below 60 degrees but preferably before the first frost of the season.
- 5
  Mix a 2- to 4-inch layer of organic matter into the soil. Place the bulbs in holes 6 inches deep and 6 to 8 inches apart with the pointed sides up.
- 6
  Cover firmly with soil and water thoroughly. Apply a thick layer of pine straw on top of the replanted bulbs.

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