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Time for planting bulb lasagne

Liz88Liz88 Posts: 40
in Plants

I'm intending to plant up some containers with a spring bulb lasagne, but am not sure when the best time would be. I'd like tulips in them all, and know they should be planted in November (expecially in my very wet local climate), but with a miscellany of other plants above them, which should be planted around now. Will the other plants (narcissi, dwarf iris, crocus, muscari etc) be OK if not planted until November?

TIA

Posts

  • CeresCeres Posts: 2,697

    I've already started to plant my tulip bulbs. The weather is still nice enough to be working outside (well it is here) so any and all gardening must be completed before the weather turns cold and wet. Get them all planted ASAP then forget about them until spring. If you have squirrels in your garden, cover the containers with wire mesh until the bulbs are growing.

  • chickychicky Posts: 10,409

    I'm like you Liz - always leave planting my tullip bulbs til November.  I think the other ones will be fine if they are planted then too - i have planted (forgottenimage) bulbs in December before now and they all came up fine - daffs, scilla and chinodoxa

  • RedwingRedwing Posts: 1,511

    Bulb lasagne?!?

    Based in Sussex, I garden to encourage as many birds to my garden as possible.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117

    Tulips are prone to disease when planted earlier - in warmer weather - hence leaving them till November RB image

    So they say anyway - it's cold enough here so I'm not sure it would matter much!

    Layers Redwing - hence lasagne image

    I'm not keen on doing it personally - think you need a big pot for it to be effective, and careful consideration as to what you use. Unless done well, each successive display  can look a bit mean. image

    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • chickychicky Posts: 10,409

    I "lasgne" my tulips - just so that I can cram more in a potimage.  

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117

    I love tulips but I now treat them as short lived perennials or even annuals. I don't have the time or energy to plant hundreds every year,  much as I'd love to.

    I only do them in pots so that I can give them sharp drainage. They don't like the winter rain here image

    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117

    They diminish over time RB. Only the bog standard yellow and red ones come back, or the little early species ones. I love those image

    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • Liz88Liz88 Posts: 40

    Thanks all. I lifted my tulips last year, partly because the leaves were driving me mad (in beds, not containers) and partly because an experienced local gardener told us that once he'd done it all by the book and hung up the bulbs in nets from his shed roof and they still got eaten by mice! So I'm going to do the same this year, some in beds, some in containers, lift when they've flowered.

    @Runnybeak: that's another of my problems. Forgetting where the rest of last year's bulbs are and slicing through them when turning the soil or planting the next batch of plants or bulbs.

  • CeresCeres Posts: 2,697

    For me tulips are a one use bulb because they do not do well in this garden. They either disappear after one year or come up looking like something from a book about notifiable plant diseases. I tried lasagne planting last year and it worked very well with a long spring season of colourful containers. If nothing else it means you don't have to have a plant pot for each species but can cram them all into one or two big planters.

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