Tulips are perennial bulbous plants of the lily family. For decorative purposes, they are grown on garden plots by almost all growers.

 Tulips are unpretentious in care and easy to breed. For successful cultivation, it is important to understand how the process of reproduction of tulips occurs in nature. In natural conditions, steppe tulips are self-renewing: every year an obsolete bulb is replaced by a new one, in the next season the natural cycle repeats. This can go on for a long time, up to 60 years.

 The area for tulips should be well lit, drained and protected from strong wind. The soil is best neutral or slightly alkaline, sandy with the introduction of rotted compost and wood ash (200g per m2). Heavy soil can be improved by adding river sand, compost and loose fertile soil. Drainage can be strengthened by pouring a three-centimeter layer of coarse washed sand on the bottom of the furrow. The depth of planting bulbs should be 3 of the height of the bulb itself. Fill the bulbs with earth and bury them with a rake. It is advisable to mulch the area with peat in order to avoid cracking of the soil.

 Tulip is a moisture–loving plant, but due to the structure of the root system it is unable to extract moisture from the deep layers of the earth, therefore timely watering of tulips is the most important condition for their cultivation. The frequency and abundance of watering depends primarily on the composition of the soil, but during budding and flowering, watering should in any case be both abundant and regular. By the way, abundant and regular watering should remain for another two weeks after the end of the flowering period. Moisture should penetrate to the entire depth of the roots, so on average you need to pour from 10 to 40 liters of water per 1 m2, and in such a way that water does not fall on the leaves to avoid burns.

 In order for the cultivation of tulips and their care to be joyful and productive, it is necessary to remember simple rules. There are a number of features that you need to know if you decide that caring for tulips is worth your effort: 

 -during the growing season, tulips are fed at least three times;

 -the appearance of tulips indicates what kind of fertilizer they need: if the leaves have become narrow and do not maintain an upright position, it means that they lack nitrogen, and if blue appears on the edges of the leaves, it means that tulips lack phosphorus and potassium;

 -in the spring, it is necessary to remove diseased plants together with the bulb, roots and a lump of earth;

 -the cultivation of the land around the plants should be carried out very carefully so as not to damage the roots and leaves of the flowers and thus deprive the bulb of nutrition;

 -if you want the tulips to bloom in large flowers next year, and the bulb does not break up into small bulbs, remove the withered flower before the formation of a seed capsule;

 -tulip bulbs do not tolerate direct sunlight, so they need to be dried in the shade;

 -do not apply fresh manure as fertilizer, this contributes to the rotting of bulbs and exposes tulips to the risk of fungal diseases;

 -when cutting tulips, leave 2-3 leaves on the plant so that the bulb can eat and develop normally;

 -on the plot where you decided to plant tulips, they should not have grown for at least three years before.

 It is also necessary to transplant tulips every year so that the bushes do not age and do not suffer from fungal diseases, in order to preserve the grade and avoid degeneration. If the bulbs are not dug out, they get smaller and deeper from year to year. They do this during a period of rest. For a tulip, the dormant period lasts from July to September. During this period, dig up the bulbs, divide and sort by size. You can store them in the basement or in a dark room before disembarking. The storage temperature should not exceed 20 degrees Celsius. If the tulips were not dug out during the dormant period, you can do it in the fall by transplanting the bulbs to another place, while separating the small bulbs.

 Adhering to the rules of planting, the subtleties of reproduction and care of flowers at different times of the year, you will get a lush flowering of tulips. Your garden will delight you with the amazing beauty of delicate tulips, and none of the guests or neighbors will remain indifferent.