Bulb hole maker thingy.....

I was watching a gardening show (great British gardens, I think) and one of the gardeners had an amazing tool for making holes in the ground to put bulbs in... It pulled out "plugs" of earth which just needed popped back in on top,of the bulb....
Was wondering if anybody had tried one and if it would be worth the expense ... Or if anybody had any clever tips instead of the tool?

 

No tips, but the bulb planter I bought, bent out of shape the first time I tried to use it. You really need either soft soil or a very strongly constructed tool.

 

Like Palustris I have not had much luck with the twist and pull type bulb planters so I changed to an auger drill which is much more successful.

 

I have one. I have no problems. You can pick them up cheaply enough from thrift shops.

G.

 

Do you mean the one that looks like a spade and you use your foot to push it in ? , they are tough enough but the small ones are useless

Spruce

 

This is mine.

G.

 

My mum had a spade one as she got older and used a small piece of plastic pipe and she would put that in the hole and the bulb the correct way up , slide down the pipe in the hole it would go and then just put the clump of soil back in ...

Spruce

 

The one I saw on TV was just being thumped in by "shoulder power" and twisted... Looked like fairly hard work....

 

Thanks all.... Hubby has a million tools and says he has an über drill! Which will save money...
Want to plant snowdrops in the lawn... Which is rock hard... Not sure my shoulders would be up to using the proper bulb planters... Although didn't want to leave grassless patches in the lawn,.,

 

I would think that if the ground was that hard.you would struggle to get any tool through it.

G.

 

No more work than using a trowel or a dibber.

I tend to use mine for larger bulbs that need spreading out. It's not so good for high density planing. For that I use a hi tech big screwdriver. It's stronger than a wooden dibber.

G.

G.

 

I find the best tool for bulb planting, on my heavy clay is a border spade.

 

i found an antique thingy in the old shed that seems to be designed for this very purpose... i'll give it a go and see how i get on....