Tulip plating panic
OK, so I bought hundreds of tulip bulbs to plant between Mum's garden and ours. I planted some of them there as the lower layer of a bulb lasagne in big pots which are sunk into the ground and left the rest 'until November'. Due to a bug, that's me just back in business, but we've had two weeks of virtually non-stop rain, from drizzle to downpour and back. I've only seen the slabs dry twice in that time. I was at Mum's today and saw that all of the big pots were sodden, but one was filled right to the brim with rainwater and I had to bail it. Quite possible all these bulbs will have rotted, so I'm managing Mum's expectaitons.
Since the weather forecast is for more rain for the rest of the week, then a cold snap starting at the weekend, a friend had said, "That might be 'it' for your tulips", and all I could think was, well if I don't plant them, we'll have none for sure, but if I plant them, some might grow. Also remembering a time years ago when I wasn't really gardening I bought some tulip bulbs but forgot about them until December, and went out about midnight one night in Dec. to plant them, and every one came up blind.
I had already prepped a bed at Mum's for putting tulips in for cutting, so I started there, but when I got the bulb planter in less than 10cm, it was just water. The original soil is clay, but Dad had worked it very well and I had dug lots of extra grit, gravel and manure ready to plant in mid-October. It's just the rain, it's not the soil or a persistent high water table. I'm sure it will be exactly the same here, as we get considerably more rain than Mum gets.
Should I just give up? If the temp goes well under freezing as forecast, all the water in the soil will just go to solid ice. Last year, I planted some tulips here and there in Nov, but it was much drier last year and they all came up and did really well. I pulled them all up aftger flowering on the grounds that the leaves were driving me, and especially Mum - who is only really interested in how tidy her garden is - nuts.
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Well they won't keep till next year Liz. Add some grit to the planting hole and get the pots lifted off the ground bricks will do they'll drain better and you'll be less likely to lose them.
Yes indeed.
I put a pile of grit in the planting holes I'd made with the bulb planter, but the water just covered the grit. I planted five bulbs there, but then decided I was only fooling myself. The pots are sunk right down into the ground, which is how Dad had them for years, and how Mum wants them kept. For sure, the bulbs won't keep, but I'm nervous of subjecting them to increased risk of tulip fire. I do have some other bulb lasagnes in pots on the patio at Mum's, and have got pot feet for these ones.
My soil is also heavy clay (I'm gradually improving it ..) so I put all my tulips in black plastic pots (I use the 10 for a £1 florist ones at Morrisons and drill holes). I plant them up with plenty of grit and leafmold added to good compost and put them all against the house where they can keep a bit dryer.
Come the spring I pop the pots where I want them in the garden ... that way I avoid damaging any bulbs such as daffs.
Once the tulips are finished I lift the pots and replace with something else. The tulips die off out of sight .. so no tatty foliage in the borders.
Most of my tulips are the perennial ones (Red Impression) so I keep them for the next year ... most have been going for 5 years now.
A single bee creates just one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime
I do exactly the same with my bulbs as you Bee witched but get my florist pots free from Asda. They are just thrown out so they are glad to be rid of them and they last a few years before going brittle. The tallest ones are great for tomatoes.
OH, that's an interesting idea.
Hi Esspee .... I like the idea of free pots. There's no Asda around here, but I'll get my sister roped in.
I put any pots that develop holes or cracks into the ground to act as liners for the tulip pots. This saves me digging the holes each year. I follow on the tulips with lilies and agastache.
A single bee creates just one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime
I did exactly the same with the florist pots with narcissus and various other bulbs a couple of years ago as there was no garden here. Many of them are still in the pots as I've had too many other things to do. They break apart a bit, as Esspee says, but they are so cheap it's not a great loss.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Yes with such troublesome conditions your tulips would be safer in pots out of the ground. Good flowering size bulbs will flower I find if planted up to Xmas. A layer of grit or chipped bark on top stops them being waterlogged usually. But in the lea of the house on pebbles or bricks or brought into a cold greenhouse or conservatory is better still
Oh, a cold greenhouse would be possible. I need to clear out Mum's, but it's not being used, nor likely to be used, otherwise. I shouldn't have got carried away and bought so many tulip bulbs.