Planting Ranunculus Bulbs in the Spring

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #LoveYourLawn #CollectiveBias

Spring has sprung here in New England, and that means getting our summer bulbs in the dirt and prepping our lawn for a long green season! Today we’re planting ranunculus bulbs in planter boxes and taking care of a little lawn maintenance with the help of Scotts® EZ Seed® Sun and Shade.

Planting Ranunculus Bulbs in the Spring

As you know, we’ve done a lot of property work around our house since we bought it two years ago. We revamped the backyard by removing the intensely overgrown blackberry mess which the previous owners had left behind, we also installed stairs on the slope leading to our DIY paver patio. We still have some work to do and we’re looking forward to this year’s projects. First, we need to get some bulbs in the planter boxes and take care of a few spots on the lawn which need help.

There’s a lot of property care to do in the spring, like pruning the crab apple tree, prepping the flower beds and cleaning out the last of the leaves which fell last fall after the first snow storm. This weekend, we’re going to talk about two things; repairing a few spots in the lawn with Scotts® EZ Seed® Sun and Shade and getting our ranunculus bulbs in containers and ready for summer bloom!

Planting Spring Bulbs in Containers and Patching the Lawn

If you have a resident mole who loves to “help” with your lawn work, you know that once the snow melts, you’ll have a few mole hills to deal with. For us, this is where the EZ Seed® comes in. Rake down the mole hills, and use Scotts® EZ Seed® Sun and Shade to repair the spots. Just follow the instructions on the jug, it’s as simple as that!

EZ Seed® is great for repairing not only the occasional mole hill, but those bare spots you get from foot traffic or other areas, like under the old maple tree where the tire swing use to hang. Anywhere you find wear and tear in your lawn, Scotts® EZ Seed® Sun and Shade can help. This isn’t just a seed – it’s a mulch, seed, and fertilizer, which is perfectly blended for repairing damaged areas in your lawn.

Scotts EZSeed Sun and Shade Patch and Repair Lawn Seed

This one jug will cover up to 85 square feet, simply follow the instructions on the jug and your bare spots will be gone before you know it! Whether your lawn needs attention in the sun or in the shade, the EZ Seed® will do the trick.

You can find the EZ Seed® at your local Walmart in the gardening area, along side the rest of the Scotts® line up of lawn care products.

Scotts EZ Seed Sun and Shade at Walmart

Now that you know how to get your lawn on it’s way to a great summer, lets get onto planting our ranunculus bulbs!

Planting Spring Ranunculus Bulbs in Planters

There are two different size ranunculus bulbs, large and small. There are also specialty ranunculus bulbs, but that’s for a different day. We chose the small ranunculus bulbs, these are the most popular and perfect for planting in planters. We have three fun wooden planters we’ll be planting our bulbs in this year. We’re going to plant 5 bulbs per container.

Ranunculus Bulbs for Planter boxes

Ranunculus bulbs can produce 6 to 8 flowers per bulb, every couple of weeks. They’re perfect for cutting and placing in vases around your house or giving as gifts, too. Planting them about 4 inches apart is ideal and leaves plenty of space for them to grow. Unlike most bulbs which need to be planted 6 inches deep, ranunculus bulbs only need to be planted 2 inches deep.

We have fairly large planter boxes, so we’re able to plant five bulbs in each container. Each bulb should produce a cluster of ranunculus flowers of about 8 inches or more in diameter. Five bulbs will surely fill the boxes with a lot of flowers.

PS: Thank the lovely Katie for her masterful artwork on the planter boxes!

Planter Boxes for Ranunculus Bulbs

First, we’ll make sure our planter has a hole in the bottom to allow excess water to drain through. Check!

Fun Wooden Planter Box

Well, yes it does have drainage. However, we noticed our planters have exceptionally large drainage slots in the bottom, so we’re going to place a piece of landscape fabric in the box and staple it down, just so we make sure the soil stays in place.

Wood Flower Boxes for Spring Ranunculus Bulbs

Now we’ll fill the planters with soil. Fill the planter, but leave the soil two inches shy of the finished level. Our planter boxes have handles, so we’re going to leave the soil two inches below the handles for this first step. You can barely see it, but our spade has inch marks which makes it easy to measure soil levels.

Spoil in Planter Boxes for Ranunculus Bulbs.

Next, we’ll place our ranunculus bulbs –spidery legs down- onto the soil with a gentle push to secure them and make sure they don’t move when we add the rest of our soil to the over top of them.

Planting Ranunculus Bulbs in Container

Next we’ll add two inches of soil over top of the ranunculus bulbs, and give them a nice dose of water to get started. We used regular (less expensive) soil to fill the planter boxes, and soil with extra food and nutrients for the top layer. This way, when we water the flowers, the nutrients in the treated soil will be carried down with the water into the soil beneath.

Planting Ranunculus Bulbs

Begin to care for them with a healthy dose of water to start and make sure to keep them in a full sun area. If the last frost has passed, you can keep them outdoors, but you should keep them indoors if you’re still waiting for the last spring frost.

Planting Ranunculus Bulbs in Containers

This summer, we will have a lot of flowers, each bulb will produce about 30 flowers per season. We’ll be able to cut fresh flowers every two weeks or so. Ranunculus are brilliantly colored flowers and bloom in June or July when they’re planted in the spring.

The small variety grows to about 12 inches tall and the large will grow up to 18 inches tall. You’ll find them growing in about 8 to 12 inch clusters, so planting the bulbs 4 inches apart is ideal. Aside from planting ranunculus bulbs in containers, we’re also planting lily and gladiolus bulbs, as well as sowing a variety of vegetables, too!

Planter Boxes for Ranunculus Bulbs

Taking care of the lawn and planting our spring ranunculus bulbs are only two of the many projects we completed this weekend. Of course yard work is never ending, but at least it’s relaxing and enjoyable – and good exercise too. The bears are not the only ones crawling out of winter hibernation here in New England!

Lawn Care and Spring Ranunculus Bulbs

Looking for specific information for how Scotts® EZ Seed® Sun and Shade can help solve your lawn problems? Click here to sign up for the Scotts’ email reminder service to receive specific tips and information for your area!

What projects do you have planned this year?

Join the Conversation

  1. Hmm! That’s interesting, Susan. I hadn’t heard of them falling over before. Two things come to mind. 1) Are they outdoors? If so, is it possible birds are landing on them? By nature, ranunculus stems are hollow and full of moisture. So they are quite easily bent. Or 2) Maybe they’ve outgrown the pot their in? They have a large root system, so maybe they need a larger space? I hope you’re able to get to the bottom of it! – Andrew

  2. I planted Ranunculus bulbs in a container in early March. They sprouted very quickly! Then, they got to be about 4 inches tall, with fan-shaped leaves! Then, they fell over. They are still quite green, but almost unable to hold their stems up. What did I do wrong? Or do I still wait and see what happens?

  3. Wow, Katherine! I’m surprised they had them this time of year, considering Hannaford is mainly a New England store. Whoever did the ordering needs a little gardening lesson. Are the bulbs sold under a Hannaford brand? If so, bring them back to the store and you’ll get double your $ back! …I’d bring them back anyways and get new bulbs in the spring 🙂

  4. I JUST bought a box of the small bulbs at Hannaford SOLD IN MASSACHUSETTS and the box says to plant them now…………..so I am so glad I googled if they’d survive a winter here. NO is the answer. I will gladly plant them in the spring. My box said to soak them in lukewarm water for 3-4 hours, which I ALREADY did yesterday before my brain started questioning this whole issue of winter here and their survival. I will let them dry out and store in newspaper in my basement until spring. I already tossed the shredded matter they came in. So mad that stores are selling them for fall planting in areas they do not belong in. I’d have tossed FIVE DOLLARS out the window *and* just as important: been sorely disappointed in the springtime.

  5. Ah yes, they’re such big helpers – right? Ugh. lol We live adjacent to a huge field, so getting the moles and/or voles to stop coming around is impossible. The red tailed hawks which hover over the field have no interest in the moles digging up our yard either, they’ll scoop them up out of the field, but no such luck for our lawn… So sad. haha 🙂

  6. My yard is full of vole holes

  7. Birdie Skolfield says:

    Scott’s Bonus S Southern Weed and Feed

Comments are closed.

Close
© 2021 Scrappy Geek ScrappyGeek is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by
Send this to a friend