Is there something wrong with my potted hyacinths?

[ILoveAFullFridge]

I usually plant my hyacinths in the garden after they have finished flowering, and thety come up again in the spring. Last year i was lazy and just bunged the pot at the back of a cupboard.

I got them out of the cupboard a couple of weeks ago. They had about 1/2" of green showing. They're on a south-facing windowsill, where hyacinths usually grow like mad. There's about 10" of leaf but no sign of a bud.

What did I do wrong?

No nutrients left in the compost.

Ah. So if I want to be lazy again, will sticking a couple of pot plant feeder sticks in the compost help? Or do I just have to accept that there's no such thing as lazy gardening?

I usually water the leaves with fertiliser when the flowers have finished, indoors or out, and they flower next year.

I think realistically you'd need to repot with fresh compost, but you could try feeding them instead.

Are you supposed to cut the flowers off after they've withered up before planting them in the garden? I have a pot in the kitchen and it's beginning to look a bit scruffy. Do I just bung the whole thing in the garden or cut anything first?

I normally cut the flower stem off once it's done, and leave the pot on the windowsill until I get around to planting it outside.

I guess there's no such thing as lazy gardening, after all!

Cut it off just below the flower or right at the bottom? How long can you leave it before planting it?

Sorry for hijacking your thread OP!

S'OK

I cut it off at the bottom. The bulb takes in nutrients via the leaves as well as the roots, but AFAIK the flower stem does nothing to help the bulb.

TBH I usually remember to plant them out when I see the new spring bulbs flowering in the garden . If you take this year's potted hyacinths (ie Xmas 2013) and plant them out in the garden, they will come up again in spring 2015.

Thanks so much