5 Unusual Uses for a Bulb Dibber – It's Not Just for Planting, it Can Even Boost Plant Health

You will know a bulb dibber as a tool for planting bulbs, seeds, or even smaller seedlings. It can come in handy elsewhere in the garden, too. So let's look at some more unusual uses for a bulb dibber that you might not know.

This pointed, handheld garden tool undoubtedly comes into its own for planting – it is designed for this core use. But the size and design also make it ideal for weeding, preparing drills, measuring, aerating compacted soil, efficiently watering and fertilizing plants.

A dibber has always been an essential gardening tool in my bag. First and foremost, I have used it for planting, but it has come in handy in many ways over the years. Here are five unusual uses for a bulb dibber that prove this tool can be highly effective in ways you may not expect. You’ll be digging the bulb dibber out of the shed or toolbox more often after discovering these.

1. To Make Drills for Sowing

As a pointed tool, a dibber is not just suited to holes; it can also make drills. On many occasions over the years, I have used a dibber to create planting drills (or small, shallow trenches) for sowing flower or vegetable seeds.

I found it especially useful for shorter planting drills in small vegetable gardens or raised beds. Often, I prefer to use a cane, hoe, or tool handle for longer drills in larger beds.

The pointed design and comfortable T-handle of many bulb dibbers make it easy to push the end in and pull the tool through the soil to create a shallow drill. Use it with a string line (I opt for natural jute twine like this from Walmart) and you can get perfectly straight drills to sow into.

It makes a bulb dibber an efficient tool for making drills you can fill with fast-growing annual flowers for glorious summer displays, or all manner of crops, including root crops like carrots, parsnips, radishes, or turnips that do not like root disturbance.

2. To Correctly Space Plants or Seeds

My bulb dibber features depth measurement markings. While these are designed to help you with planting depths, you can also use these markings to get the correct spacing when planting vegetables or flowers.

It can be a big help when growing carrots, beets, radishes, or many other vegetables when directly sowing seeds outdoors.

Spacing seeds properly reduces the need to thin. This eliminates root disturbance that comes when overseeding, and, in the case of carrots, reduces the risk of carrot fly, which are attracted to the scent when you need to thin seedlings after planting carrots too thickly.

If you want to get yourself a bulb dibber with such markings, this dibber, available at Amazon, is made of stainless steel and engraved with markings spaced between one and five inches.

3. For Weeding

The range of unusual uses for a bulb dibber extends past sowing or planting. Indeed, a bulb dibber can make a handy weeding tool. It can be used as a lever to help homeowners get stubborn tap-rooted weeds, such as dandelions, out of flower beds, lawns, or kitchen gardens.

When it comes to getting rid of weeds with tap roots, you need to remove the whole root. This can be easier said than done, but it is necessary as the weed can simply resprout from any root left in the soil. If you just cut off the stem and head, it will return.

How does a bulb dibber help with this? Well, the point of the tool can be pushed underneath the roots and used to loosen them from the soil. Placing the tool next to the root and turning it loosens it, making it easier to remove.

The straight, pointed design of the dibber helps you do this without disturbing the roots of other plants, which is especially helpful in packed summer flower beds or when dealing with deep-rooted weeds in a lawn.

4. To Aerate Compacted Soil

Plants suffer in compacted soil. Even the best perennials will struggle if they are planted in beds that sit really wet, and you may see yellow leaves, a lack of flowers, or overall weaker growth.

If plants are struggling or showing signs of difficulty in borders, a bulb dibber can make holes in the soil around the plant. These will help with drainage after rainfall and provide vital air circulation to the plant’s roots.

To improve drainage in raised beds or garden borders for the long-term, adding organic matter like compost or leaf mold can boost soil structure and help prevent plants from sitting in waterlogged soil. You can get bags of organic compost at Walmart for this purpose.

For short-term relief for affected plants, making deep holes around them with a bulb dibber can help. These holes can be filled with compost, horticultural sand (get bags of garden sand at Amazon), or grit to improve the drainage and aeration of heavy soil types.

5. To Efficiently Feed Plants

Another potential reason to poke holes around plants with a bulb dibber is to help deliver water and nutrients to where trees, shrubs, or flowers need it most – their roots. Delivering vital moisture and essential plant nutrients to the roots directly is much more effective than applying them broadly over the soil surface.

When using granular fertilizer, such as this organic all-purpose plant food at Burpee, make small holes with a dibber a few inches away from the plant.

Keeping that distance reduces the risk of fertilizer burn, a fertilizing mistake that occurs when active products touch the plant’s roots. It is also advisable to water the soil before and after applying such products.

Shop Dibbers

If you like discovering some unusual uses for a bulb dibber, then you may want to check out some other articles on surprising uses for traditional garden tools.

See some unusual uses for pruners other than just trimming your plants, or some unexpected ways you can use a lawn mower during the months you don’t need it for trimming a lawn.

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