Plant pots after bulbs have finished flowering

[Maggiethecat]

The lovely daffs and tulips are flowering in several pots and wondering what to do with the pots when they’ve ended.

Will they flower again next year so leave them in the pots in which case I’ll have several pots non flowering until next spring.

Or do I remove old bulbs and plant up with summer flowering ones?

I leave them in place and plant annuals or even salad leaves (seeds) on top.

You can plant on top. Remember to feed them while they’ve still got leaves, to build up stores to produce the flower buds next year.

I leave them in place and plant annuals or even salad leaves (seeds) on top.
This is a great idea. I was wondering this too as I usually plant bulbs in the ground but put some daffodil bulbs in a big old metal bath this year.

Tie down your daffs after flowering is done and plant over them. That way the nutritients get back into the bulb for next year, but you can plant other things without it looking untidy.

If you google tying down there are good explanations/videos and it doesn't take long. But I just tried to describe it and made it sound very confusing!

I do this too. Any I don't use I hide in a corner of the garden until next spring.

I leave them to die back then put decorative gravel ( buy a small bag from garden centre for a fiver) on the top to protect and keep pot looking nice then put to one side behind a bench I have until next spring when I put them back again. I’ve found they keep looking good for about 3 years then I replace. Sometimes I plant the bulbs after 3 years just in the garden beds and see if they come up ( or not )

that’s what I hoped - to be able plant on top.

must I wait until things have all died off after allowing bulbs to store energy and then plant ( maybe in a month or 2)?

can I plant summer bulbs on top (although time window is narrowing) or would annuals as suggested upthread be better ?

think I cross posted with a few

I switch out my bigger pots of tulips etc with dahlias, so once they've flowered I lift them and put the bulbs in big plant pots (with holes) which get left in the greenhouse over summer. That allows the leaves to feed the bulbs as they decay, and they ready to be re-used in autumn. I do feed them while flowering which helps feed the bulbs as well.

That said, tulips tend not to do so well the next year. They'll often have smaller flowers or not flower at all. Some varieties are perennial, but by no means all. I'll re-use the best looking bulbs (plump, larger ones) but discard the rest and definitely anything mouldy or squidgy.

I currently have a big pot full of last year's best tulip bulbs which I just shoved in all together because I ran out of time and pots. It's a lovely mix of all different types, I'm definitely doing it again next year!

Daffs come back well, so I tend to put them in smaller pots which I just hide behind the shed over summer. Crocuses could be planted out now into the borders or lawn (they will come back in the same pot, but if you wanted to use it over summer they'll have to come out).

If you just want to put things on top I'd say summer bedding would be best as it tends not to need much root space. Summer bulbs (are you thinking gladioli?) will need to be planted as deep as the autumn bulbs.

I planted quite a few bulbs, so it will require some kind of system!

I guess I could just plant a few with annuals and hide away the other pots and get a few new pots for planting summer bulbs.

thanks for the tip about feeding while flowering. what kind of feed do you use?

l’ll be putting mine away in a corner of the garden until next year.
I always hear that tulips don’t do well the following year, but mine have been coming back again for several years now (pots and in the ground)

I have no luck with tulips coming back but daffs do. I usually plant the daffodils around the garden and use the pots for summer bedding or tomatoes but I have put bedding over the daffodil bulbs and that works. Reading this thread I ought to try with the tulips again.

Tomato feed works well for anything you are growing for flowers or fruit

Something I do for my big planters or 'good pots' is have a few inner pots which can just be swapped over. So the inner pot of tulips would come out of the nice outer pot and sit in a corner of the garden. Then another inner pot would be switched in.

This is genius! I'm going to do this!

Thank you!

@TheSpottedZebra - that is brilliant!

Do you just choose an inner pot big enough to almost fill the outer pot, perhaps resting it on a brick or something and with very little side gaps?

trying to visualise….

Er, pretty much! You don't want it too flush to the sides as you need room for your fingers to get in and lift it out.

That is a great idea @TheSpottedZebra . I'm going to copy that one too.

I left the following in pots last year and I’ve found they’ve still flowered well this year: exotic emperor (white), purissima (white), lasting love (red). They are all quite early, in general I’ve found that earlier tulips do better than later in pot though.

Exotic emperor, purissima, lasting love, ballerina, appledorn elite and queen of night have all flowered well on their second year in the ground too.

That was in reply to @yikesanotherbooboo

Thank you @theremaybetulipsahead

Why didn't I think of this ! Every year I've been lifting them and storing them away then putting them back at the end of the summer. Doh.

I take mine out of the soil and keep them until the autumn, then use the pots for flowers.