This WOLF-Garten bulb planter is extremely simple to use. All you need to do is place it down onto the soil, and then twist and push it in until you’ve reached your desired depth. Then, lift it out and you’ll see the soil plug held between the tool’s circular blades. It’s worth noting that this was the most worm-friendly bulb planting tool that I tested, possibly because it created the smallest hole compared to the rest. No matter the type of soil you use it in, it produces a neat, conical-shaped hole that’s perfect for small bulbs. I found it to be most beneficial when planting garlic, onions, and small flower bulbs such as crocuses. The hole that it created wasn’t quite deep or wide enough for the tulip bulbs that I was planting – I ended up using a different bulb planter for these. I couldn’t see any bulbs in the holes (I’m hoping they were further down) but I re-covered the holes anyway and have my fingers crossed for spring! Since these were pretty extenuating circumstances, I haven’t detracted any points from my scoring of the product, but it’s worth a mention for those of you who live in storm-prone areas.

Although simple to use, how easily it works will de pend on the type of soil. I struggled to use this bulb planter in heavy and stony soil – it required a fair amount of pressure to get to the appropriate depth, and there were some parts of my garden where I couldn’t get the tool in more than a couple of centimetres deep. In addition to planting bulbs and small plants, you can also use this tool for removing weeds with deep taproots, extracting soil samples, drip-edge fertilising trees and as a lawn/sod plugger.

My Top Recommended Bulb Planter Tools

There are two measurement markings on the side of this bulb planter: 5cm and 10cm, with 10cm being the maximum depth that this tool will dig down to. In terms of size, this bulb planter is ideal. The 7 cm diameter is suitable for a range of bulb sizes, and I made the most of the measurement markers to dig each hole to the perfect depth every time. The ProPlugger couldn’t get much easier to use. All you need to do is place the tool over the area of soil you want to dig (after sliding on the appropriate depth ring), step down onto it, give it a twist, and pull it up. As you can see, there’s not much to it. The only time the tool was difficult to use was on hard and stony ground. Even after exerting a fair amount of pressure (which you’re not meant to do), I couldn’t push the planter in deep enough.

If you’re planting a lot of larger bulbs, use a bulb planter hand tool that removes plugs of earth . This tool creates uniform holes, and fills them in again, in two simple steps. Look for a width of around 60 mm, and depth marking on the side – something that can be really useful when planting different types of bulb. On the downside, unlike the other bulb planters I tested, which neatly collect the soil that they remove from each hole, this one pushes it to the side and compacts it in. You won’t be able to refill the hole with the same soil, meaning that you’ll need to have extra soil or compost with you when planting. Most of the bulb planters that I reviewed were pretty versatile, but this one takes things to a whole new level.As mentioned, the Draper 3082 Bulb Planter has a very similar design to its competitors. However, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing – it’s clearly a reliable design, and there were no immediate flaws that I could see. The ProPlugger 5-in-1 Planting Tool is extremely effective at planting bulbs. It’s not a tool that I would use for small bulbs that need to be planted just beneath the surface of the soil, but it’s ideal for larger bulbs that need to sit a little deeper, such as tulips.