Now that fall has arrived and the temperatures are dropping, gardening is coming to an end. I, like many gardeners, like our four-season climate. Although, with the end of each winter, a gardener's hope springs eternal and they are ready to plant, feeling very sure that this year the garden will be wildly productive, with bigger, brighter and lovelier flowers than ever before.
A good deal of digging, watering, weeding, pest control, fertilizing, harvesting and preserving goes into making this as much a reality as possible. So when October rolls around, most are ready to put it all aside with the garden tools for a few months.
We know that before spring arrives, we will be tired of seeing the cold and gray days of winter. Somewhere in the recesses of our mind we anticipate the splash of color that will come again with spring. But why wait? Why not do a little something now to brighten the winter days?
Tulips, daffodils, hyacinths and other spring-flowering bulbs don't require spring to grow; they just require enough cold weather before it warms up. The bulbs already contain all the plant parts that will pop up and bloom in the spring, provided they get enough of a cold treatment before that.
They will experience the cold weather in the ground in outdoor planting but they can have that same cold requirement in a pot while roots form and the stalk and leaves begin to elongate. Then it will be ready to grow. Depending on what bulbs you choose to force, you could have bright flowers as early as Christmas or later in the winter. Why not force some bulbs for Valentine's Day.
Essentially to force bulbs, you simulate winter conditions and in some degree the bulb's natural cycle. Early- and mid-blooming spring bulbs are the easiest to force. A number of bulbs can reward your effort. Try crocus, muscari, dwarf Dutch iris, hyacinths, rock garden daffodils, rock garden tulips and early tulips. Larger bulbs like mid-season tulips and daffodils force well, but need extra chilling time.
The minimum chilling time varies according to the bulb.
Little bulbs require eight weeks. Hyacinths require eight to 10 weeks of chilling. Early season daffodils and tulips and early rock garden tulips need 10 weeks of cold. Chill late season tulips and daffodils for 14 to 16 weeks.
Making this lovely indoor, mid-winter garden is worth the trouble, but the results of your efforts will be disappointing if you use inferior bulbs. Purchase solid, medium to large size bulbs, those that are free from blemishes and rot spots and are not shriveled.
You have the option of chilling the bulbs for the required time first and then planting them. However, this is not as effective as planting them and then chilling them.
If you choose this method, place the bulbs in a paper bag or other container that is not airtight. Do not place them in the same crisper as fruit.
After chilling them for the required time, plant them in the desired container.
Plant the bulbs so they nearly touch to create a well-balanced mass of flowers and foliage in your living bouquet. Purchase enough to plant four to five daffodils, six to seven tulips, or four to five hyacinths in a 6-inch bulb pot. A bulb pot is not as tall as a regular pot, but is not essential for good growth. Pots can be made of plastic, cement, Italian clay or metal.
What medium you plant them in is very important, however. This crop does not tolerate wet feet, so choose a well-drained potting soil. To make your own, use one part peat moss, one part sand, one part coarse sand and one part vermiculite. Don't worry about adding fertilizer now because the bulb holds all that is needed for flower development. Use fresh soil each year for best results.
Fill the pot about two-thirds full of good potting soil. Put the bulbs on top of the soil. Add enough of the potting mixture to cover the bulbs well. Leave 1/2 inch from the soil surface to the rim of the pot to facilitate watering. Plant tulip bulbs so the flat side is toward the pot. This allows the first leaf that emerges to form an attractive border around the planting. Other bulbs need not be oriented in any particular order. The end result is much nicer, if the pot contains wall-to-wall bulbs.
Soak the growing medium in the pots thoroughly so that there is a moist surrounding for the plants to grow in. Place the entire pot somewhere with a temperature of 40 to 50 degrees for two to three weeks for rooting. Bring the pot into a warm, well-lit room and water as needed while they grow and flower.
A better way to force bulbs is to plant them before chilling them. A refrigerator is just the right temperature if it is functioning right. An unheated garage will also provide a cold temperature when the days get shorter. The potting mixture needs to be moist, but not wet during this period. If the weather is very cold while they are outside, you may wish to put them somewhere where the temperature is 40 to 60 degrees for a week or two more to help them root.
Another option is to bury the pots outdoors up to their tops in soil, preferably in a shaded area. That provides the right temperature and the mix doesn't dry out as readily. Dig a trench about a foot deep for 6-inch pots. When they are covered with soil, place leaves or mulch over them about a foot deep so that they don't freeze. That makes a mound so they can be found under the snow when you are ready to bring them indoors.
After the chilling process, either bring the pots indoors to begin forcing the bulbs, or leave them outdoors until you are ready to do that. They can chill for longer than the minimum times listed above, but not for less.
Bring the pot indoors and water as needed. Bulbs should bloom within two to four weeks, depending on the variety. Top growth forms quickly at higher temperatures, but the blossoms and stalks will be weak and leggy. You get blooms in another couple of weeks at a room temperature of 70 degrees to 72 degrees. The cooler you can keep the pot of flowers, the longer you will enjoy them.
When you force bulbs this way, they are pretty well spent and not suitable to force the next year. Plant them outdoors in a sunny location leaving the foliage on and removing the flowers. Continue to water for three or four weeks, allowing the leaves to die down naturally so they can store up energy for next year's blooms. You will get best results if you force fresh bulbs each year.
The narcissus (daffodils) known as paperwhites is the simplest bulb to force indoors. It will fill the room with fragrance. You can grow them in potting mix if you choose, but they will also grow on a bed of pebbles if you keep the water level barely touching the base of the bulb. Put them in a sunny, bright area of your house and watch the flowers form rapidly.