How To Plant a Bulb in the Garden with a Drill
How to Reduce Chronic Pain When You Plant a Bulb in the Garden
Plant a bulb in the garden can be tough when you have arthritis or chronic pain. I have a solution to make it easier to do. This is great if you have a health condition that might prevent you from digging as heavily. Conditions like carpal tunnel syndrome or arthritis make it challenging to drill a hole for your bulbs!
Use This Super Easy Tool for Planting Bulbs
Bulb Augers are perfect for auguring attachment for a corded variable speed drill. The drill needs to be 3.0 amp or larger. This way it will work for heavy soil. You can use a cordless variable speed drill, 24 amp or larger for lighter soil (see above). Below is a chart from Longfield Gardens that let’s you know how deeply you need to plant bulbs. As a general reference, plant bulbs 2 to 3 times as deep as the bulb is tall.
When planting bulbs the last several seasons I have ended up with very sore wrists and back. Using a bulb auger is very easy. Simply attach the tool onto a drill. Then drill straight down into the ground. Pull out the soil. Knock it out with the dirt-knockout-stick. Then toss in a bulb and cover it back up. Do that about 300 times for all those daffodils and tulips. What I discovered is that this drill method makes my hands and wrists far less strained. Thankfully, it really works to lessen the pain levels on my back as well.
Should You Auger Large or Small Bulb Holes in the Garden?
An auger works great for medium to small bulbs. It makes for a very tight squeeze for large bulbs like the allium. The benefit is that it gives you an advantage. Even with the larger bulbs it “starts the hole” (much like you pre-drill holes in studs to start the hole for a larger screw). Several times I had to double-drill. Meaning I had to drill once then pull all the soil out. Then I had to drill again a little deeper to get to the correct depth. Soil that is very heavy is harder to drill through. It is important to have not-too-wet and not-too-dry conditions. Overall I rate bulb augers as smart tools for planting bulbs and see it as an advantage for most gardeners.
