Growing flower bulbs

When the flower bulb fields are in bloom, people flock to see them. For the growers themselves, the flowers are unimportant. All they want is to produce nice big flower bulbs. That’s what it’s all about. The bigger the flower bulbs, the more money the grower will make. So it’s no wonder that growers do everything they can to give their flower bulbs everything they want. That starts with preparing the soil. On geest soils, the groundwater is deep beneath the surface so the soil can be ploughed to a great depth. This provides the flower bulbs with fresh soil again and again.

But they need more than this. They also need fertiliser because the soil behind the dunes doesn’t contain many nutrients. For this reason, growers add the fertiliser or compost that the flower bulbs need to get big and fat. Both ploughing and fertilising are thus important. This soil preparation has to be done before the bulbs are planted, and this happens in October. The growers use machines for this. Afterward, the fields are covered with straw or reeds. This protects the flower bulbs from the worst of the winter cold. The mulch also keeps the sand from blowing away.

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