Area for planting a bulb regularly lacking soil (6)
I believe the answer is:
bedaub
'soil' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'area for planting a bulb regularly lacking' is the wordplay.
'area' becomes 'bed' (bed is a kind of area).
'for planting' becomes 'a' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'regularly lacking' means one should take alternating letters (letters removed at regular intervals).
The alternate letters of 'bulb' are 'ub'.
'bed'+'a'+'ub'='BEDAUB'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for bedaub that I've seen before include "Smear with something sticky" , "Smear (with a sticky substance)" , "Splodge with paint" , "Crudely paint" .)