April showers may bring May flowers, but you may not have any flowers in your spring garden if you do not plan ahead. If you want to have beautiful flowers in the spring, fall is the time to get cracking on your garden. Planting bulbs for spring needs to happen in the fall, before the ground gets frozen. If you live in the southern part of the United States, you can plant bulbs for spring through mid-December.

Here are the steps you need to take in order to have beautiful spring garden flowers:

Find the right bulbs for your climate, soil and spot

You need to make sure that you buy the correct bulbs for your yard. That means finding the type of flowers that will flourish not just in your climate, but with the soil you have, and the space you have. If you are unsure on your choices, you may want to talk with your Lawn Doctor lawn care professional to get some advice.

Dig holes in the ground for the bulbs

Use a bulb planter or a hand trowel to dig holes to plant the bulbs in. Generally speaking, you should dig two and a half to three times deep the height of the bulb for the holes, but this may vary, so read the instructions you may have received with the bulbs. In addition, you may want to dig deeper to keep rodents out, depending upon your yard. Dig the holes in a way in which the flowers will look like they have naturally sprung from the earth. What that means is that you do not want the plants to come up perfectly even – they should look more organic.

Put some fertilizer in the soil, depending upon the state of your yard. Then plant the bulbs root side down – it should be clear which side the root is on.  You should make sure that the bulbs do not touch each other, though – that will cause rot.  In addition, make sure to only plant one type of bulb per hole.

Then cover up the holes with soil, and water regularly. Now comes the waiting part.

Wait until spring, and then prepare to be wowed

Depending on what type of bulbs you planted, and when they are set to bloom, you should have some beautiful spring garden flowers. Now, if you got a late start on planting, your flowers may bloom late next year. What some flower mavens do is plant a variety of bulbs at different times, so they will have flowers throughout the spring, summer, and even fall. Maybe that can be your next project.