The holiday season is quickly approaching, so it’s a great time to start sprucing up the inside of your home with flowers and plants. What about starting an indoor gardening project? We recommend buying some bulbs, decorative containers, and a bag of potting medium. When you get home, make some space in an old refrigerator. Next, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and start putting all of the ingredients together following our tips below. You’ll create a succession of spring flowering bulbs in midwinter that are not only fun to watch grow, but also make great holiday gifts!
Fill your container with bulbs for great results.
Photo Credit: Michigan State University
A deep enough container is essential.
Photo Credit: Michigan State University
The planting process is called forcing, though it’s more like fooling—fooling the bulbs into thinking that they’ve spent the whole winter outdoors underground and that it’s now spring and time to flower. If you’ve ever done this, you know how enjoyable it is to watch them bloom and grow. If you’ve never tried this, you’re in for a spectacular treat.
Crocus, hyacinth, tulip and daffodil can all be grown and flowered indoors. It’s not really a complicated process—the main requirement is time, so you want to start in early fall. Bulbs planted in mid-November should bloom in March or April.
Pots for forcing bulbs should be twice as deep as the bulbs to allow space for root development. Good drainage is a must, so pots must have holes and the potting medium should be light and drain well.
To pot bulbs for forcing, add potting mix until the pot is about half full. If you set one of the bulbs on the medium and the tip is level with the top edge of the container, it’s just right. Place the bulbs in the pot and fill in around them, leaving the tips visible and allowing room between the top of the medium and the top edge of the container for watering. Next, set the bulbs on the medium but don’t press them into it—this can damage their bases and retard growth. Water thoroughly.
For a striking display, place as many bulbs in the pot as it will hold without the bulbs touching one another or the edge of the pot. For a six-inch pot, this generally means six tulips or daffodils, three hyacinths, or about fifteen crocus bulbs. Label each pot with the kind of bulb, the planting date, and the projected date for bringing it out of cold storage, using a waterproof marker that will survive the pots being watered. Then place the pots in an old refrigerator at temperatures between 35 and 48 degrees. The aim is to keep the bulbs cold without freezing them.
You can also force bulbs in a cold frame, but it’s harder to regulate the temperature, and in a warm fall, you might not be able to start as early. Leave the pots in cold storage for 13 to 14 weeks. Keep pots covered or in complete darkness and water regularly
At the end of this time, stems should be two to three inches tall and roots should be visible growing through the drainage holes or circling the inside of the pots. Bulbs not showing good root and shoot growth should continue the cold treatment; the others should be transferred to a cool, bright room (temperatures in the 50 to 60-degree range) and watered regularly. Flower buds will appear 3 to 4 weeks after the end of the cold treatment.
