planting tulip bulbs in containers .. tutorial

[Riz]

People say tulips are easy to grow. But easy is not the right word. With tulips there is nothing to do - nothing to be easy - except plant them. It’s like buying a rail ticket from a machine. In goes the money and out comes the ticket. In goes the bulb (http://www.greenfingers.com/articledisplay.asp?id=1152#keyword) and up comes the flower. It is such a simple transaction that gardeners should be generous with tulips almost more than any flower.

Think what you can do with them. You can plant dwarf species like Tulipa tarda (http://www.greenfingers.com/articledisplay.asp?id=1152#keyword), greigii (http://www.greenfingers.com/articledisplay.asp?id=1152#keyword) and biflora to brighten up a rockery or the edge of a border (http://www.greenfingers.com/articledisplay.asp?id=1152#keyword). You can plant the taller ones in amongst herbaceous (http://www.greenfingers.com/articledisplay.asp?id=1152#keyword) plants to bring an early peak of colour to a mixed border, long before most summer perennials (http://www.greenfingers.com/articledisplay.asp?id=1152#keyword) are strutting their stuff. You can even play at making colour combinations between tulips and other early flowers. Imagine white tulips amongst variegated honesty (http://www.greenfingers.com/articledisplay.asp?id=1152#keyword), or the orangey-bronze flowers of ‘Abu Hassan’ amongst the new spearing foliage of plummy Euphorbia griffithii (http://www.greenfingers.com/articledisplay.asp?id=1152#keyword).
http://www.greenfingers.com/images/article/2318.jpg And tulips come in all kinds of shapes. There are the classic, demure, incurved shapes, like the cap of a Madonna. There are tulips like ‘West Point’ (http://www.greenfingers.com/articledisplay.asp?id=1152#keyword) and ‘White Triumphator’ (http://www.greenfingers.com/articledisplay.asp?id=1152#keyword) which have long elegant petals arching outward and upward. There are striped tulips and parrots, and even multi-headed tulips, each one a ready-made bunch of blooms. There are earlies, and mid seasons and lates, and if the truth be told, a tulip lover could have them in bloom from the first days of March until late May.

Why have a busload of dumpy hausfrau hyacinths when you could have a choir of elegant delicate tulips? You’ll say the hyacinths are perfumed perhaps? Well, you are right. By and large tulips have no perfume to speak of. But I can live without that, when they offer so much else. Who’d run off with a hausfrau just because she smelled good?

For a less formal look you can plant tulips in a dozen different colours into rough grass. They will not look natural but they will dazzle, in a meadowy, star-spangled way. You might want to plant just one vivid variety through long grass, to tone with early rhododendrons, or primulas. Gardeners with little courage and bags of good taste might use ‘Spring Green’ (http://www.greenfingers.com/articledisplay.asp?id=1152#keyword), as it’s a quiet mixture of green and white. The real purists, or those who want tulips to look more natural than this, might plant the late scarlet Tulipa sprengeri (http://www.greenfingers.com/articledisplay.asp?id=1152#keyword), to self seed through borders and shrubberies, followed in due season by those pale, gherkin-like pods, full of shining seed.

What price all this generosity of flower? All you have to do is plant the bulbs, now. November is just the right time, and you can often snap up some bargains at this stage of the season. Plant them deep, a good 6-8 inches down, and they will come up year after year, even in grass, unless you are on heavy clay soil (http://www.greenfingers.com/articledisplay.asp?id=1152#keyword). When they start to dwindle, buy some more. They are cheap enough.

http://www.greenfingers.com/images/article/2319.jpg My only trouble with tulips has been mice, which seem to be able to smell them there under the surface. If they are shallowly and newly planted amongst the roots of other plants, mice can tunnel down and eat them. The knack to avoid this is either to plant so deep the mice can't get down there, or to plant only into freshly-dug loose soil, into which they find it dangerous and impracticable to dig down. What price a tulip, if you end up buried nose down in 6 inches of loose earth?

If you live on boggy land or in slug heaven, tulips can be tricky too. This is not the place to try growing them in rough grass. They succumb here all the faster. Where slugs are at home on the range it’s better to go for bulbs that they dislike, such as bluebells.

For the rest of us, which is most of us, tulips are one of the great dividends of spring. So invest a little now. Set up a nest egg for next year.



http://www.greenfingers.com/







salaam and hello everyone....

i like to keep things simple as possible.....


Here is my tutorial on how to plant tulip bulbs. If we plant the tulip bulbs in sept, oct, nov,dec. These particular tulip bulbs will flower in April/may. I bought some bulbs really cheap from "no frills" shop in my hometown..

here is a pic of the bulbs i bought.... not all are tulip bulbs, some alium,iris and crocus ( always read the label)

[Riz]

things you will need....

multi purpose compost and a container, i am using a B&Q 99 pence buckets to do this job ( they come in black and orange) they are a lot cheaper than plastic pots ( same size) the pots will cost you £2.99, so the buckets are really cheap, i have lots of them, the handle on the bucket can be taken of as you can see,

buckets dont have holes at the bottom :) so we have to drill a few tiny holes using a regular drill.. i am using a orange bucket, this way you can see the holes ( for drainage)

[Riz]

the tulip bulbs ill be planting, the outer skin might peel of by itself its dry, ( no biggie)

so now you have your container ready ( bucket in this case) you can easily get 10 bulbs or more in one container this size,

fill the container with soil and leave around 3 inchs from the top,
the planting depth for the bulb is around 4 inch,

Set the bulbs on top of the soil in the pot. The closer together they are, the more flowers you'll get at bloom time.


Make sure to plant bulbs right side up (usually pointed side up, root side down). as you can see from the pics

now you can fill the remaining soil in to around an inch from the top

[Riz]

thats the hard bit out of the way...

you can cover the top of the container with some mulch,
i gave the container a good watering to help it on its way.. make sure you label the container (so you dont forget what you have planted) Check the pots often and water if necessary through winter.

leave the containers in the garden, around march you will inshallah see the stem shooting through the soil

an article http://www.muslimgrower.com/discussionforum/showthread.php?t=21

[Riz]

17th oct 2007

here is a pic of my tulip bulbs i planted in containers as you can see i mulched them all....



http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa300/sajid_012/tulipsincontainers.jpg

[Riz]

some pics i have taken today 26th december,, as you can see some stems shouting out through the mulch....

[Riz]

Another update, 2nd jan 2008

[Riz]

another update, its been raining for the past couple of hours...

17th jan 2008

[Riz]

Hi everyone..

27th jan 2008


yet another update,, things are looking healthy, almost all the containers have bulbs growing....

[Riz]

today, 11th feb 2008

[Riz]

some of the crocus buds are blooming.. :)

[Riz]

some more pics of crocus, they are on of the earliest to bloom.

[Riz]

some more pics for your delight.. i have not used any nutrients or fertilizer at the minute, they look healthy i will probably add a little something when i see the tulip head forming, the stalks should reach up to around 12 inches or so before the petals open up.

[Riz]

Another update,, things are moving on and the tulips are growing really well with no sign of any disease.. The first tulip has blossomed along with the crocus...
here are a few pics :)

[Sakeena]

salam bro, how are you?

so what's next you planning on planting them in the ground?

[Riz]

salam bro, how are you?

so what's next you planning on planting them in the ground?

Salaam Sakeena.

No i will leave them in pots and transfer some pots to the front of the garden which is paved and show them off when they are just about to bloom.. :)

[Riz]

Today has been a nice day... I was in the garden assesing what i have to dig and tidy up next weekend..

Th earliest tulips are blooming these are called "Giuseppe Verdi tulip rockery"

[Riz]

A bigger pic :)



http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa300/sajid_012/DSC08070.jpg
(http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa300/sajid_012/DSC08070.jpg)

[Riz]

another pic of the tulips slowly opening up.....

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa300/sajid_012/DSC08059.jpg

[Riz]

A few more pics, hopefully the rest of the tulips will bloom at the same time :)

[Riz]

they are all slowly beginning to bloom, these ones are called "tulip purple prince"

they have not yet fully bloomed at the moment, but they are still striking specimans

[Riz]

some more pics of the tulips blooming..

[Riz]

a few more pics :)



http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa300/sajid_012/DSC08263.jpg

[Riz]

some more pics for your delight........ ( ill give you the names later )

[Riz]

some more, these are in the front garden, i have around 6 containers more which have not bloomed at the moment......

[Riz]

these are huge, the stem is around 18 inches... classical rich cream flutes with rasberry streaking "tulipa flaming purissima"

[Riz]

enjoying the sunshine we are having :) the red tulips are called "tulip red revival"

[Riz]

some at diffrent stages of growth......

[Riz]

Its a beautiful day today, the sun is out..

some more pics of tulips i have in the back of the garden... cant wait untill they all fully bloom :)



http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa300/sajid_012/DSC08402.jpg

[Riz]

a few more pics

2nd pic, tulips, alium, crocus and lupin in the ground

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa300/sajid_012/DSC08407.jpg




http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa300/sajid_012/DSC08391.jpg

[Riz]

I have not used any nutrients at the moment nor have i hand watered any of them.. Its been wet recently so the rainwater has taken care of the watering...


http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa300/sajid_012/DSC08482.jpg

[Riz]

i took some of them out of the containers and planted them in the ground...


http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa300/sajid_012/DSC08507.jpg

[Riz]

some crazy colours.......


http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa300/sajid_012/DSC08554.jpg

[Riz]

another pic

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa300/sajid_012/DSC08588-1.jpg

[Riz]

some of them have opened up..
http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa300/sajid_012/DSC08606.jpg

[Riz]

some more pics i have taken today of the tulips.. hope you enjoy !!!!


http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa300/sajid_012/DSC08820.jpg



Queen of the night



http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa300/sajid_012/DSC08795.jpg

[Riz]

white parrot tulip


http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa300/sajid_012/DSC08798.jpg

[Riz]

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa300/sajid_012/DSC08688.jpg

[Riz]

tulip claudia

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa300/sajid_012/DSC08687.jpg



http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa300/sajid_012/DSC08703.jpg

[Riz]

Anyone who lives in uk and are familiar with the diy shop "no frills" well its called something else now ( i forget) the name :) but i was in there yesterday and they have huge savings on plastic pots/containers/fertilizers etc.. maybe its off season now and they are trying to get rid of everything cheap.

they have just stocked tulip bulbs/alium/crocus and lots more, i got most of my tulip bulbs from that diy shop and they grew excellent ask you can see from the pics i have uploaded..


http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa300/sajid_012/DSC08725.jpg

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa300/sajid_012/DSC08736.jpg

[~Obsidian~]

Riz those tulips are B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-LLLLLLLLL

No frills eh? My bro was telling me about that. I'll try to make it there and stock up on some huge pots :D

[Riz]

Riz those tulips are B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-LLLLLLLLL

No frills eh? My bro was telling me about that. I'll try to make it there and stock up on some huge pots :D

yeah..
but they are called something else now "hypermarketdiy" something like that. i bought some plastic pots/troughs and trays yesterday, and the flower bulbs are cheap £1.99 for 10 or £2.99 for 20. i still have tulip bulbs in buckets from my last grow so i am good to go..

[~Obsidian~]

I noticed in some of the pictures you had some bulbs in those tiny terracotta pots, how do you manage to keep them from getting waterlogged?

[Riz]

I noticed in some of the pictures you had some bulbs in those tiny terracotta pots, how do you manage to keep them from getting waterlogged?

they dont get water logged, i grew them in containers so all the water drains out eventually.

[Riz]

They are cheap 3 bags for £5..

[~Obsidian~]

:eek:

Where?

[Riz]

of course i still have lots from last season, i will be adding these to my collection .. :)

tulip "peppermint passion" and"spider works"

also got myself a bag of hyacinth bulbs, gotta give kirsten a run for her money ;)

[Riz]

hi obsidian...

"diy hypermarket" i was telling you about it last time aswell.. and the rose bush and rose climbers are only £1.99 each real bargains.




http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa300/sajid_012/DSC08743.jpg

[~Obsidian~]

The spiderworks ones look awesome!! Peppermint passion and the hyacinths are too washed out for my liking, I love strong colours :D

Ah yes I remember now (had to scroll down lol) I thought they were called focus DIY for some reason, why can't they just stick to one flippin name!!

[Riz]

they used to be called "no frills"

if you have some cash spare you can stock up on nutrients/fertilizers and lots of diffrent types of bulbs, they are extremely good quality bulbs aswell daffodils/ixia/alium/iris etc.... I usually by all my growing needs from there :)

[Kirsten]

also got myself a bag of hyacinth bulbs, gotta give kirsten a run for her money ;)

haha! We'll have to have a race :)

I planted mine yesterday, but while I was digging for potatoes I came across something that definitely didn't look like a potato. Turned out it was my mom's purple hyacinth bulbs :eek: so I quickly reburied them... I don't know why on earth she planted them in the (unharvested) potato patch though!

[Riz]

not my pic

How can you not wish to grow tulips after seeing this :)

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa300/sajid_012/tulipfields.jpg

[Riz]

i had no soil and a quick trip to the store today changed all that...

i have already lots of tulips from last season growing in containers. so i just bought 2 packs and planted all the bulbs in one medium sized container.. so i have 20 tulip bulbs in one container.. gave it a good watering and thats bout it :)

[~Obsidian~]

How big is that container? :eek:

[Riz]

How big is that container? :eek:

not that big 21 cm deep

i layered the bulbs, planted some 5 inch down and layered it up with soil and then planted the next 10 and layered it up again...

[~Obsidian~]

Oh hey I didn't know you could do that! Brill :D

[Riz]

some of the tulips and iris from last season and some i planted this season are cracking through the soil as well :)

[Riz]

most of the tulip containers are now showing stems cracking through the soil, i have not even watered them since October, just let nature take care of them....

[Riz]

my tulips in containers are doing really well..and the iris have popped out as well. last season i gave them no nutrients or fertilizer and they came out better than i ever expected...

[Riz]

The tulips are growing really well as well, and all of them that i started last season have popped out :)

last pic is the crocus flowers....

[Riz]

the tulips are looking really great, and in there second season :)

[Riz]

the early tulips have bloomed.. really impressed by them, seems like overnight they have grown so much :)

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa300/sajid_012/DSC02997.jpg

[Riz]

the first early tulips are blooming ( nearly)

[pomegranate]

:rolleyes:RIZ YOU SHOULD TRY CROSS BREEDING THOSE TULIPS, TO SEE IF THEY MAKE ANY MULTI COLOUR FLOWERS.!!

[Riz]

^ yeah i should lol

some more pics of the tulips in containers that are blooming..

[Riz]

some tulips i cut from the garden today.. and left in a vase in the bathroom...

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa300/sajid_012/DSC03218.jpg

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa300/sajid_012/DSC03217.jpg

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa300/sajid_012/DSC03220.jpg

[Riz]

frilly tulips

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa300/sajid_012/DSC08689.jpg

[Riz]

now is the time to plant your tulip bulbs.. from October to December, before the first frost. Daffodils, tulips, crocus, grape hyacinths and fritillarias are just some of the plants to choose from too.... :)

How to buy bulbs

Most bulbs have a long dormant period, requiring little attention for much of the year. When buying bulbs check they're healthy and as fresh as possible, or your spring show could be a washout.
Avoid any that are damaged, shrivelled or feel soft, and go for plump, firm bulbs. Aim to plant within a week or they’ll start to sprout. When possible, check that the plants have been obtained from reliable growers, rather than from stock that has been collected from the wild.

(http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/basics/techniques/plant_bulbs1.shtml#top)

[Kirsten]

:p My mother's parents live in another country, and one of their friends' kids recently returned to visit them and brought back a huge bag of tulips. Being good friends, the parents distributed a bulb to each of their friends as a gift and told them it would bloom beautiful flowers, but apparently the kids had neglected to explain that it had to overwinter and would sprout in the spring. So after 2-3 weeks of no action, everyone threw out their bulbs and declared it a bust :eek:

[Tania]

I didn't buy any bulb but now looking at the yellow tulip i feel bad about that. Next autumn defintelly i will buy :p
Kirsten i would left the bulb in soil. Never know, just in case.

[Riz]

tania-

you still have plenty of time to buy the tulip bulbs, you have the whole month of December to plant them :gramps: :p

[Tania]

Riz- i have to check up the shops :shy:

[Riz]

had a bag full of bulbs, tulips,iris etc... planted them all in one container... gave the pot a good watering and that's it ! :)

[khabbab]

sadly, tulips do not do well in our lahore climate. Although i was advised by the nursery man that keeping it in fridge for few weeks will yield better results but i don't trust him. I tried 2 dutch tulip bulbs but winter was so mild last year it did not trigger the bloom. Iris does well however.

[Riz]

tulip stems and iris are popping out of the soil :)

[Riz]

better pics of the tulips,iris, ixis