Just like planting tulips anywhere outside, it is important to plant your bulbs at the right time of the year. The map below shows best times to plant by where you live. In southern New England, the best time to plant is between Late October and the first week of December (at the latest). The goal is to keep the tulip bulbs cool so they develop great roots for stronger tulips in the spring.
Perhaps the most challenging part of planting in pots is protecting your tulips from critters.
There are several ways to take care of this problem, including using a bit of fencing or metal mesh above the soil. However, we've also seen some ingenious stacked pots, that make the contents of the container difficult for those rascally varmints to reach.
Whatever you decide to use, it's good to monitor for the first several nights. You could even plant one or two bulbs, set up your barricades, then plant the rest when you are sure they'll hold the squirrels at bay!
We also really like the pot above that we found at The Garden Lady. She also has a fun video about how to get creative with your pots on her facebook channel.
Potting tulips is really simple if you follow 5 easy steps!
1. Choose an appropriate pot
2. Consider the height of your tulips
3. Water thoroughly if the soil is dry and then leave them alone
4. Cover with a thin layer of mulch if left outside
5. Protect from hungry critters.
Happy Planting!
~ Keriann
Comments
Shaili said:
Hi Keriann,
Can I plant the bulbs in pots and leave the pots in the garage by the garage window? They’ll be safer from critters that way.
Do the bulbs need sunlight through the winter? If not, some sunlight from the garage window should be enough and I can bring the pots out to the yard in spring.
Shaili
Anna Clancy said:
Thank you for posting this! I’ve been procrastinating planting my bulbs, and need to get going. If I were to plant some bulbs in pots, do they need to have sunshine over the winter? I have some not-airtight but varmint-proof cupboards on a deck that would be easy to store pots in, but they wouldn’t get any sun. Thanks again.