Beating the cold and wet soil for good show of tulips
Got cold, wet soil? No problem! Big showy tulips don’t do well in my garden’s clay soil, so it’s pointless even trying. It’s not that it’s over wet, it’s just so slow to warm up in spring.
By far the best thing to do is plant ‘bedding’ tulips in pots.
Ordinary multipurpose compost will do fine, and as it’s a case of diminishing returns with most tulips, you will only get a good show for one season.
If you object to this wanton waste, try growing species tulips, which naturalise and their shows get better over time.
You can plant them this late in November, in fact, it’s best to if your area suffers from a virus called tulip fire – the colder temperatures will kill it off.
Ignore traditional spacing guidelines, and place the bulbs in a tight circular pattern.
Cover with compost, planting them at the same depth you would normally, approximately two to three times the bulb’s height.
If you’ve got a big pot, you can be really flash and double or triple up for a longer display – plant the earliest bulbs at the bottom, mid-season next, then late varieties on top.
Make sure there’s compost between each layer and water in when you’re done.
You might need to water the pots in spring if there’s a dry spell but apart from that, they’re pretty maintenance free.
I find closely planting bulbs into 6” black plastic pots is helpful - they fill in any obvious gaps in the border without the pots being obtrusive.
You can grow them on in full sun and sheltered conditions until ready to flower, then move them to semishaded spots and take them away easily when they’ve finished flowering.