Planting bulbs in December isn’t too late – as long as the frost hasn’t settled yet and it hasn’t snowed! This Winter feels milder than usual and so planting bulbs in December is a perfect time to plant them. Another bonus of planting bulbs in December is that you’ll find a lot of places selling bulbs at a huge discount. It’s a bit of a gamble to wait this late to plant your bulbs, but seeing as I’ve just moved, I wanted some Spring flowers to look forward too and brighten up my garden. I think a disclaimer may be necessary at this point – I have far more enthusiasm for gardening then anything else! I love pottering around the garden and in fact, my first-ever Saturday job was at a garden centre. I spent the Summer watering plants and the Winters creating Christmas displays and I loved it!
The Orchard sent me an early Christmas gift by the way of these beautiful Kew Royal Botanic Garden pots. So I had no excuses not to plant these beautiful Tulipa Bakeri Lilac Wonder tulip bulbs which in my Amara Interior Blog Awards goody bag.
These terracotta pots come in a variety of colours and are hand crafted and glazed with the seal of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. They have a charming crackle glaze and are suitable for indoor or outdoor use. They’re frost-proof too although plants aren’t so it’s still probably best to protect your plants from frost. The tag that came with the tulip bulbs (which you can order online from the RHS), said to plant before November. Seeing as it’s such a mild December, I’m going to plant them anyway and just hope for the best!
These pots don’t have any drainage holes so you have three options. You can drill your own, you can put a pre-potted plant inside that has drainage holes, or you can create somewhere for the water to go. I used to pop stones and broken terracotta into the bottom, but it used to make the pots so heavy to move. So now I use lighter materials such as egg boxes, leaves, nut shells or even cut up bits of plastic. The aim is for the earth to sit on top of this and the water to drain down to the bottom. If your home is anything like mine, you’ll have plenty of nuts piled high over Christmas – keep the shells in an old jar as they’re great for potting.
Another tip is to use the same type of flower in one container – these ones can fit about 6-8 bulbs. If you put different types of flower bulbs in one pot, they won’t flower at the same time and may look a little lost with just one or two popping up. When you gently press your bulbs into the soft earth, it’ll flatten down naturally so be sure to throw in some extra earth on top.
I’ve placed these pots in quite a secluded spot in my small terraced garden so they won’t get loads of direct rain. I’ve put some dry leaves on top to protect the bulbs from any frost we may get too. Luckily I hadn’t swept and so there were plenty of dry leaves going! I couldn’t quite decide which colour pot I liked most and so I went for one of each. I’m so glad I did as they look fantastic together and I can’t wait until they’re full of these yellow and lilac tulips. I’ll add a new picture to this post in the Spring!
