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mushibu10

Planting tulips shallow bowl.

mushibu10
9 years ago

Hello,

So few weeks ago I got some bulbs reduced the store was clearing out, and as I paid so little I don't mind if they don't work.

The pot is a foot abd bit wide and about 6inch deep. With a single drainage hole.

I was going to plant tulips, but of that's impractical I have 75 Dutch iris. Allium globes a a few daffodil left. Couldn't get any crocus they would have been perfect!

So I want to grow them so when they're in flower I can place then in the centre of garden on the table. Or on the front step.

I know terracotta is delicate to cold and frost. So would keeping it in the shed be safer?
(I also have a dianthus in deep terracotta pot shall i plant it to protect of shed or?)

Any help would be great.

Comments (12)

  • mushibu10
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Forgot the tulips are

    Red center with white flame and white with red strips. And a solid red.

  • dbarron
    9 years ago

    If the soil freezes solid they're goners. Unless you keep someplace where the temps are cold but not freezing..unheated rooms perhaps ?

  • mushibu10
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Hm. No cold room. But fridge?
    I have shed?
    So depth of pot doesn't matter as long as they dint freeze?

    Also the actuall names of thw type is;
    Carnival De nice
    Triumph Broadway
    Darwin hybrid red

    What if I put it into a cool box outside? It's dark but it will be protected from the frost?

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    9 years ago

    what are you talking about red barren????

    in MI.. my soil freezes a foot or two deep .. that does not kill tulips ...

    and in z8 mild GB ... her pot is not going to freeze solid ...

    NEVER confuse air temp freeze.. with soil freeze ..

    google FORCING TULIPS ... never mind.. see link ...

    if you can get the requisite cold.. you ought to be all set ... maybe even cold treat the bulbs in the fridge.. before planting ...

    i have never had luck with clay pots indoors... i would stay away from them ... or.. use a plastic pot.. that you can slip into the clay pot ...

    ken

    Here is a link that might be useful: link

  • floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
    9 years ago

    Mushibu10 - with all due respect ignore all the above ;-). The following advice is for UK conditions. Do not worry about freezing soil, chill hours, refrigeration or any thing else like that. You have an almost perfect climate for growing bulbs in outdoor containers and need not worry. Plant your tulips and put the pot in a sheltered corner and they will be fine. If the bowl is designed for outdoor use and is reasonable quality terracotta it will be OK. Garden pots are generally frost proof in our conditions unless very cheap. The soil is unlikely to freeze solid unless we have a very unusual winter. If however you are just using an indoor bowl for outdoors the shed will be fine. But in the shed remember to check the soil hasn't dried out too much.

    In our climate there is absolutely no need to put bulbs in the fridge. We have sufficient cold outdoors to chill them but insufficient cold to kill them. You do not need to FORCE these tulips. That technique is for indoor growing. Just plant them and leave them alone. Mine are all potted up already and sitting in a corner behind the compost heap. The daffodils and crocuses are already showing tips but they will sit tight until the spring before flowering.

    Regarding the types of tulip you have bought they are all fairly tall and may look out of proportion in the shallow bowl. Something shorter would look better. But that is a question of appearance not of cultivation.

    p.s. do not put the dianthus in the shed. They need light, are totally hardy and are evergreen. You could raise the pot on some stones or something so the soil doesn't stay too wet but otherwise leave them alone.

  • gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
    9 years ago

    Thanks, floral. I was going to outline all of that but you beat me to it! Continental US gardeners tend not to have a good grasp of gardening conditions in the UK........we are a lot closer to it here in the PNW.

    Ken, your soil may freeze to that depth but that does not equate to the same freezing temperatures anything in a container might experience. The deeper you go the warmer the soil temp. At the depth one normally plants tulip bulbs, the soil temperature will be above what we consider the freezepoint or 32F. The soil will still be 'frozen' but not at temps that will damage bulbs. I'd need a degree in physics to explain it but it all has to do with hydrology and thermal induction and other esotheric scientific terms I know little about :-) Just be assured that bulbs in your freezer or those in a container that freezes solid experience much colder temperatures than your bulbs in the ground will. So freezing IS a concern.......just not in the OP's location.

  • dbarron
    9 years ago

    TY, I give general advise and rely upon the gardener to know her own local conditions, since I can't :)

  • mushibu10
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    So the bowl has EV11 pressed on the side so do all my other ones.
    I planted them, there was a bulb and half of space, so a quarter under and ontop of the bulb, the hight isn't a problem either place I put it doesn't get a draft or wind.
    By weird winter you mean like '09 '10

    I didn't get to plant the hybrid Darwin. No room.

    I am still getting to know my climate. So advice is always appreciated even if I don't like it.
    The soil I planted with was quarter miracle grow, quarter perlite and sharp sand with half john Innes no2 with a bit of crock covering the hole.

    I have a large look the triumph like drier conditions to the carnival so after blooming I can 'heel' (I think it's that) them else where to let them replenish and restore self's. And then plant again for nezt year? Or shall I leav e as is and just see what happens?

    Also we've had frost I've left a bromiliad vriesea outside and it's not died from the frost. So hardy then?
    The dianthus I'll put on the feet I can get. Thank you.

    Leo

  • mushibu10
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Uou mentioned your bulbs are starting to grow. Mine are too, my blue Dutch iris. Blue bells (I think the blue bells grow green before winter then die then flower in late winter?)
    So if they grow now they will just wait to flower until the warm spring?
    And this is a tulip I planted nearly a month ago,

  • floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
    9 years ago

    OK...

    1. I have no idea what EV11 might mean.
    2. I don't quite follow what you're saying but it sounds as if there isn't much depth for your bulbs. You can only hope for the best.
    3. By 'unusual' I mean like 2012 when it went down to -10c(14f) a couple of nights. Some of my older, cheaper terracotta flaked a bit. None cracked and no bulbs were killed.
    4. It's entirely up to you whether you heel the bulbs in or leave them in the pot. But Tulips are iffy about returning so I'd put them in the garden and buy fresh bulbs for pots where it matters much more if some don't flower.
    5. Just because your Vriesea survived one light frost, possibly in a sheltered spot, doesn't mean it's going to be hardy throughout the winter. It needs to come inside. Rather than guessing and hoping you can find out if a plant is hardy very easily by Googling. If you find RHS info it will be accurate.
    6. Your 'bluebells' are possibly Hyacinthoides hispanica in which case they will flower in late spring, not late winter. Unless you have misidentified them and they are Scillas or something similar.
    7. Yes, bulbs will wait and flower at the appropriate time. There is no need to worry about them getting hurt by winter weather.
    8. There's no need to spend money on special pot feet unless you want to. You can improvise with bits of tile, stones, wood, etc. Or just stand the pot somewhere where it has good drainage below e.g. on gravel.

  • emerogork
    9 years ago

    I wonder how many times I write a response and preview it then neglect to hit submit. )-: There ought to be a fix for this....

    I have a 1950's Philco refrigerator in my cellar that I use for forcing bulbs. Bulbs are placed in pots of potting mix and soaked in water then drained. They are placed in in the refrigerator in early November and it is set to the coldest setting where they freeze solid. A week later, I change the setting to minimum cold.

    8-10 weeks later they are sprouting and I move them to a sunny window where 3 - 4 weeks later, I have late February blooms!

    This goes for crocus, tulip, daffodil, and hyacinth bulbs.

  • floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
    9 years ago

    Emerogork2 - the OP is in the UK where there is no need to refrigerate bulbs. Outdoors they get sufficient chill and if forcing you can just put them in a shed where the temperature will not go too low but will be sufficiently cool. They don't need to freeze solid. Here are my Hyacinths in my shed in Winter - as you can see they are in glass bulb vases which have only cracked once in many years.