Forum

Replies

• 

  Anthony Toop September 15, 2011 at 5:21pm

  For lawns ive found it far easier to lift a section of turf, digout some soil, bulbs in , infill and roll grass back over, job done

  Using the bulb planters for anything other than the odd one here and there will take forever and like you say they dont exactly look that strong but, by coincidence Garden News Weekly done a piece on bulb planters last week and the ones with handles were much better for use in harder ground and one with a rolled edge on the foot plate, like on a spade were easier to get a good boot/weight on obviously

  Joseph Bentley Stainless Steel planter was the Best Buy but retails at £30 each! other makes included Bulldog tools, Darlac, Draper, Sneeboer

  HTH
• 

  Nick Steele September 15, 2011 at 5:27pm

  We've used the Joseph Bentley planters - seemed to do a good enough job. If we'd been feeling flush we'd have bought the Bulldog ones cos they look stronger, but from memory they were about £50 each, while the JB ones were about £30.
  
  Bear in mind whatever brand you choose, if you're working on stoney soil it'll be a nightmare, and you'd be better off with a spade!
• PRO

  Nick @ NM Garden Services Ltd September 15, 2011 at 7:29pm

  I think that you might be better off with a spade having tried customers' bulb planters - simply rubbish!

   

  Nick
• PRO

  Brian www.mibservices.co.uk September 15, 2011 at 8:36pm

  How many bulbs are you talking about Gary ?  Me + 1 staff planted over 1000 bulbs in a morning using a good old fashioned pinch bar and back filled with soil conditioner and water, mixed to a slurry and poured from a bog standard watering can. Bulbs came up beautifully with the soil conditioner helping them to good start.

   

  regards
• PRO

  Gary RK September 15, 2011 at 8:43pm

  We've about 7400 bulbs to plant. Interesting. Then team of 2 could do it 3-4 days? (just pulled schedule out and we've allowed 5-6 days to layout & plant with two staff)

   

  Pinch bar sounds a good way (I asume it's what I would call a 6ft wrecking bar ?) and we've good loam/soil left on site .

   

   

  Think I might flood water the areas the day before as well to soften ground.
• PRO

  Brian www.mibservices.co.uk September 15, 2011 at 9:03pm

  Yeah, same tool, a killer on the arms and shoulders after a shift but if your guys 'spell' each other on the job then 2000 a day is do-able. The plus side is that the weight of the bar actually does a lot of the work and if as you say you have good soil conditions then it will be a breeze.
  
  Gary RK said:

  We've about 7400 bulbs to plant. Interesting. Then team of 2 could do it 3-4 days? (just pulled schedule out and we've allowed 5-6 days to layout & plant with two staff)

   

  Pinch bar sounds a good way (I asume it's what I would call a 6ft wrecking bar ?) and we've good loam/soil left on site .

   

   

  Think I might flood water the areas the day before as well to soften ground.
• 

  Claire Brown September 16, 2011 at 11:41pm

  i've tried several over the years including a very expensive long handled stainless steel job that took about 5 minutes to do each bulb.

  Last year I ended up with 3000 bulbs in my garage to plant on my own!.

  I found that the best thing was a pointed end transplanting trowel that I picked up at 3 for £10 each at a trade fair, and forking the soil over before I started ( and a pair of knee pads and regular rests to straighten out)

   

  I was managing 500 a session (3odd hours) on my own
• 

  Claire Brown September 16, 2011 at 11:42pm

  That did include several "rivers" of muscari which don't need to be more than 10cm deep, - not all tulips!
  
  Claire Brown said:

  i've tried several over the years including a very expensive long handled stainless steel job that took about 5 minutes to do each bulb.

  Last year I ended up with 3000 bulbs in my garage to plant on my own!.

  I found that the best thing was a pointed end transplanting trowel that I picked up at 3 for £10 each at a trade fair, and forking the soil over before I started ( and a pair of knee pads and regular rests to straighten out)

   

  I was managing 500 a session (3odd hours) on my own
• PRO

  Brian www.mibservices.co.uk September 19, 2011 at 11:20pm

  Hi John, just a bog standard compost / soil improver was used, cant remember the the trade name job was done over 4 years ago, and the flowers are still very strong now. The area planted has been ride-on mown for years so there was a fair rate of compaction in the top 6 inches of soil anyway, it has high clay content also, but the annual show of flowers has been good.

  
  
  John www.acegardenservices.co.uk said:

  What was the soil conditioner Brian ? 

    The only problem I can see with using a wrecking bar is compacting the soil around the bulb. I assume the wrecking bar is driven into the soil and then pushed back and forth to make the hole larger.

   The bulbs energy attained from the previous year will nearly always give a good show the first year after planting, I would be interested to know if the second year was as good, as planting this way would be so much easier.

   Perhaps the slurry mix will soften the compaction ?

      
  
  www.mibservices.co.uk said:

  How many bulbs are you talking about Gary ?  Me + 1 staff planted over 1000 bulbs in a morning using a good old fashioned pinch bar and back filled with soil conditioner and water, mixed to a slurry and poured from a bog standard watering can. Bulbs came up beautifully with the soil conditioner helping them to good start.

   

  regards