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Bulb lasagne

ads2k15

By Ads2k15

West Midlands, United Kingdom Gb

Hi,

I've recently planted up 3x 31cm diameter terracotta plant pots with bulb lasagnes and thrown in some bulb starter for good measure.

1 contains 12 iris blue note, 10 narcissus thalia & 6 tulips Shirley.
Another has in it 15 crocus ard schenk, 10 narcissus tete-a-tete & 6 tulips mount Tacoma.
The last is made up of 9 tulip fashion, 9 narcissus double campernelle & 12 muscari armeniacum.

I've never done these before and currently have them against a south facing wall in the back garden, but would like to bring them out to my north facing front garden and put them against the east facing fence when they begin to poke through in the spring. Does anyone know if this will be ok? Also should they be in a cold frame or will just wrapping some bubble wrap around the pots be sufficient over winter?

Many thanks!




Answers

 

Im not sure if the bubblewrap is enough to prevent freezing. The cold frame sounds like a better plan. I would bury the pot below ground level then overlay with a thick pile of fallen leaves.

3 Nov, 2016

 

Depends on the winter we have - if its anything like the last two or three, it won't be a proper winter at all, more like an extended autumn with a bit of frost here and there. If it turns out to be a humdinger like 2010, then wrapping/insulating the pots and moving them to a cold frame would be a good idea, but otherwise, provided the temperature doesn't drop below 0 deg C day and night for a week, when there's a risk the pots might freeze solid, they should be fine left out in the open, specially against a south facing wall. By the time they start appearing, the worst of any winter should be over, so moving them to a north facing situation then should be okay.

3 Nov, 2016

 

Ithink the daffodils would be OK in a northerly postition but the rest prefer some sunshine so i would delay moving them to the final site until the flowers are in evidence. Also the south facing site will be a betterposition for them through the colder weather an shorter days.

3 Nov, 2016

 

Thanks for the advice everyone, that's really helpful!

Can I ask does anyone know if I could get 2 years out of this arrangement by using fertiliser and leaving the bulbs in the pots over summer? Have read conflicting info online!

Thanks again :-)

3 Nov, 2016

 

You would need to feed the bulbs with a high potash feed after flowering until the leaves die back - that's when they are storing up food and forming next years flower buds. I would use tomato fertilizer. Then in the spring you can feed with a general fertilizer The little irises like to be kept pretty dry over the summer or they will give up, and tulips like to be rather on the dry side as well, so bear that in mind. Muscari are hard to kill.

3 Nov, 2016

 

I have several pots that have been planted up this way for many years. I feed them when they have finished flowering and when they go over I plant up with dry loving bedding so the bulbs don't get too wet in the summer dormancy. In the early spring I scape off the top inch or 2 of old compost and replace with fresh compost with a little bit of slow release fertilizer.

3 Nov, 2016

 

Brilliant, just the answers I was hoping for!

Thanks again everyone.

4 Nov, 2016

How do I say thanks?

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