Potted Pleasure
If your garden soil is on the heavy side, switch to growing your bulbs in pots. Spring flowering bulbs thrive in pots and are some of the best plants you could choose for container planting.
What to plant:
Cool climate bulbs: tulips, hyacinths and crocuses.
Any-climate bulbs: daffodils, Dutch irises, grape hyacinths and freesias.
Some tips for the best results:
Choose the right bulb for the right pot – the bigger the bulb the bigger the pot.
Always plant in fresh potting mix. Invest in a planting mix containing controlled release fertiliser and supplement with fortnightly feeds of liquid fertiliser.
Plant generously so that the pots look full. Large bulbs, such as tulips, can be almost touching. Bulbs which have bushy foliage, such as freesias, should be spaced about 2cm apart.
If you are layering your bulbs, put the tallest and the latest flowering varieties towards the bottom of the pot. Add some more potting mix ensuring you have covered the first layer of spring bulbs.
After planting, place the containers in a cool place until the shoots appear. Then bring them out into a sunny position for flowering.
Drainage is further improved by sitting pots on spaced bricks or special pot feet.
Keep the potting mix moist, but not wet throughout the growing season.
Then enjoy the show!
