It’s that time of the year again – the days are becoming longer and plants are starting to emerge from their winter long dormancy. One plant that I have never tried to grow are tulips – not for any reason other than that they never really were on my top list of things to grow.

I saw a few bags of tulip bulbs on special in Autumn so I thought I’d have a go at growing them. I placed all the bulbs in the refrigerator for about 2 months and potted them out about one month into Winter. I have read before that tulips don’t like wet feet – if the soil is too wet / stays too wet for an extended period, they will start to rot.

With this knowledge in mind, I came up with my own potting mix ‘recipe’ that seems to have worked – it has weathered countless days of heavy rain – and as you can see from the photo – is growing strong.

I made a mix of three parts compost to three parts sharp sand (which helps the water to drain). I also used a terracotta pot – the dry winters wind coupled with the porosity of the terracotta help to draw any excess water out of the soil mix.

I then planted the bulbs about 10 centimeters below the soil surface and left the pot in the most sunniest position and waited, and waited, and waited.

At times during the waiting period (throughout winter) I felt my ‘experiment’ had failed – but a few weeks ago I noticed little green shoots poking out of the soil surface – it had worked.

Now that the shoots have emerged, I have fertilsed the tulips with a small scatter of Dynamic Lifter as well as a sprinkle of Potash.

Can’t wait to see them flower!

If anyone has any suggestions / ideas / tips / comments do let me know!