Great Tools for Bulb Planting - Garden Advice

Once you’ve chosen your bulbs, it’s important to think about how you can give them the best start in life. If planting in containers, you’ll want to choose the best compost; if planting them out in the garden, selecting the right tool for the job makes the task much simpler. We have plenty of tips and advice to share, as well as a range of our favourite bulb planting tools to make uniform planting quick and easy.

Perfect Compost for Bulbs

For planting in containers, we recommend Westland Bulb Planting & Potting Mix. This specialist compost provides the perfect environment for root growth. If you’re concentrating on planting in beds and borders but have heavier soil, it’s best to use some horticultural sand. This will help to break up heavy soil, aiding the establishment of bulbs. Furthermore, you can mix horticultural sand with potting composts to produce a looser, more open structure, preventing root damage to plants that need sharp drainage.

Choosing the Right Bulb Planting Tools

First, start by using a hand fork to weed and loosen the soil. Once you’ve prepared the area to plant and have decided where each bulb is to be positioned, it’s time to get digging. The key is to make sure bulbs are planted at the correct depth; this will ensure they provide a great display and, in many cases, thrive from year to year. Bulbs that are too shallow often fail after the first year while those planted too deeply may only produce foliage or not emerge at all. The general rule of thumb is to plant your bulb at approximately three times their height (though there are some exceptions).

There are several bulb planting tools available, and we have selected the best one for each type of bulb below. Once you have made uniform planting holes and placed the bulbs in the soil, you can then backfill the holes using a hand trowel.

Our Planting Tools

Kent & Stowe has a wide range of bulb planting tools, from long handled to transplanting trowels, as well as small and standard size hand bulb planters – all designed to make planting an easy and enjoyable task. View our full range here.

Don’t Forget Gloves

It’s advisable to wear gardening gloves, because bulbs such as hyacinths can cause skin irritation. We recommend either our Sure & Fit Multi Job Gloves, Bamboo Gloves or Prem ium Seed and Weed. These different kinds will give you the most amount of grip and great dexterity. The are available in both ladies' and men’s sizes, as well as a range of colours.