Plant your bulbs now: Terra Viva
by Metropol | March 18, 2026 8:32 am
Beautiful spring blooms begin in autumn. Yes, it’s March, and it’s hard to get your head around spring daffodils – but the ‘buried treasure’ below the ground waiting to put on a colourful show in several months’ time starts now. Terra Viva’s Peter Worsp offers his spring bulb planting do’s and don’ts.
It wouldn’t be spring without all the different bulb options that create such bright flowerbeds at the end of winter’s grey chill. Planting conditions are perfect right now with moist warm soil to give your bulbs the best possible start.
GROWING
Spring bulbs love good quality, soft-ish soil, so mix in Daltons Nutrient-Enriched Compost if necessary. Good friable soil (crumbly, loose consistency) will allow roots to develop quickly. Grow in good light (full sun to part-shade), and feed twice a year, first when the growing tips of the plants appear, and once more when flowering has finished and the bulbs are making reserves for the summer dormant season. Leave the foliage uncut until it’s completely died off, allowing maximum production of reserves for next season. You can tie the foliage into a bundle if that appeals to your sense of tidiness.
PLANTING
Mass bulb planting around the base of trees looks great in spring, particularly daffodils. Or, plant in pots and low bowls for space-saving spring displays – the current trend is multi-planting of varieties in one pot. As many as 32 bulbs can be planted in a 15-litre pot giving you an extended flowering season. This technique is known as a ‘bulb lasagne’. It’s easy and all you need is good quality bulb planting mix (plus a dash of Terra Viva’s specialist advice).
The general rule for planting depths is ‘the bigger the bulb the further down you plant it’, and vice versa. So start with daffodils and scented hyacinths at 8 to 10cm, followed by tulips at 5 to 7cm, mini daffodils at 5 to 6cm, with grape hyacinths, anemones, and ranunculus on the top layer at 3 to 5cm. You can even put lilies right at the bottom for a summer scent. Feed with controlled-release or liquid fertiliser and let the plants do the rest.
Get ready for beautiful spring bulbs with Terra Viva’s extensive range in store now at 196 Roydvale Avenue. Find the stars of spring flowers from daffodils (including doubles, miniatures, and scented) and tulips (late autumn) to bluebells, anemones, ranunculus, scented and grape hyacinths and freesias.
Source URL: https://metropol.co.nz/plant-your-bulbs-now-terra-viva/