garden withindoors

I'm interested in anything that can be used to grow bulbs indoors.

The bulb bowls with lids with holes seem to be straightforward enough. The bulbs (crocus or hyacinth, depending on size of the holes) go in the holes on top. How does one use a flower brick? The large hole seems perfect for a crocus bulb but I'm not sure if they were made for that or were just made for cut flowers. I managed to find a few spent bulbs to show a comparison of the hole sizes.

The main question with the bulb bowls is whether to put the bulbs on top of the lid or underneath. I think they were made for the bulbs to go on top. Before I knew that I put them underneath. Both methods have their pros and cons.

The empty hole (below) was because the crocus bulb dropped down as it was a bit small. The largest bulbs are required to sit on top. Some roots can also be seen around the edge of the bulbs preventing them from sitting neatly in the holes.

The bowl below looks quite neat with the bulbs beneath the lid but that isn't always the case as in the pic below that as it shows how multiple stems can be a tight fit in the holes and the roots push the bulbs up, dislodging the lid.

I'd love to see how these ceramic items were actually used rather than my attempts. If anyone can direct me to paintings that feature them, it would be great, thanks (julie @ gardenwithindoors.org.uk).

I'm not sure if this was made for cuttings or bulbs or either. I'm going to use it for small bulbs.

And of course one can use small pots for small bulbs indoors. Below are a couple purchased recently at the front and a couple of vases and the bulb bowls and flower bricks for size comparison.

In addition to watering my bulbs, I find planting the spent ones out a real challenge. I guess we all have things we are better at than others. This is all I have left of the bulbs. Some rotted after sitting in a bucket for the last 2 months and a few the squirrels have had and I discarded the Jan Bos which I was disappointed with.

They are now finally in the ground.

Here are some blooming this year that I planted out in previous years so there's still life in them after forcing.

I've tended to put any bulblets I break off from my hyacinth bulbs into this pelargonium pot - only because it's handy! Until recently I never saw them grow or root or do anything but now I see a few of them are growing in earnest. Maybe I just left them long enough? or watered them enough? (I must admit I never watered this pot much off season). (The hyacinths are the smooth straight stems with the pelargonium further back on the right.) I will replant them into their own pots and see how long until they bloom, if indeed they ever do. I will also try to organise a better pot to put bulblets in in the future.

Another failure with the Avalanche Narcissus. I gave them time in the fridge (6 weeks) and time in the cellar and didn't take them out until the roots and stems were well-developed so I really don't know  where I'm going wrong.

I saw this bulb bowl at the Florimania exhibit at Hampton Court. This should have bulbs on top on the holes but it's always nice to see hyacinths especially ones of such a great blue/purple colour.

I was hoping to see more of Queen Mary's delftware but apparently William sold much of it after she died.

Inevitably at this time of year the focus shifts from the garden withindoors to the garden withoutdoors. 

At that site you can see what's happening in my garden, including my first frog. I am so excited to finally have one after over 10 years of trying to get them and being given frog spawn a number of times.

Here's my indoor frog, a recent purchase I'm looking forward to planting small bulbs in in the autumn. The pot on the left is a mystery. It was described on ebay as a "bulb pot" but it's obviously missing a piece from the centre and possibly from the other holes. It looks quite a lot like a SylvaC pot I've also seen on ebay with animals in the holes and a small pot in the middle. Anyone have any ideas? (totally unmarked on the bottom).

While I'm doing show 'n tell with new purchases, here's a vase I bought for hyacinths, although it's not an "official" hyacinth vase, it's the perfect size to put a hyacinth bulb in.

I do hate showing this poor looking bulb *but* it shows both how desperate this bulb is to grow: 1.it's struggling to bloom 2. it has a secondary stem coming up 3. it has a large bulblet developing and also how the blue vase is a fine size for a hyacinth bulb.

For some reason these Red Hunter tulips are not blooming properly in this pot although they did do very well in the trough growing on grit. There's lots of colour but the flowers just aren't opening up.

I also have 2 sad looking hyacinths which I don't even want to picture here. Those are the final bulbs for this forcing year.  Almost completed my notes on my forcing results.  Do let me know your successes this year (julie @ gardenwithindoors.org.uk).

I happened to notice this cigarette card on ebay. Not quite as good as finding a hyacinth bulb in a vase but in a pot is the next best thing.

As these are two of my final hyacinths it's finally time to review my bulb forcing results. I have created some new pages with info about how each variety/supplier/bulb performed. I'm still working on them as there's so much to go through. I'm also formulating some questions to ask the bulb suppliers, eg: 1. why are there so many double-stemmed hyacinths this year? 2. why are the Jan Bos hyacinths so poor this year compared to other years? I'm sure I'll think of more questions.

Yet another double-stemmed hyacinth (right). It would be better if both stems were in bloom at the same time. I guess I should cut the wilted one off. This photo embarrassingly shows how I haven't watered this one as I should have. I may seem organised in some ways but keeping up with the watering I find difficult!

These Red Hunter tulips are taking longer than the other pot I had of them (one of the Shorter troughs) but I was pleased to see the first red bloom this week.

I think this may be my last hyacinth bloom. I started it mid-December. The other two bulbs I did not put in the cellar and they don't look like they're going to bloom but I was wrong about some of the others so they may surprise me.