DIY baskets for bulbs. What is the advantage of planting tulips in bulb baskets and how to do it correctly? Planting bulbs in baskets - photo
It is called creeping hop, beer hop, climbing hop, bitter hop... This powerful and beautiful vine has everything to be useful to humans. Hops is revered by many peoples of the world; it is a symbol of fertility, strong economy, prowess, happiness and longevity; it is depicted on coats of arms and coins. But many summer residents are not at all happy with him. Hops tend to grow rapidly, suppressing the growth of cultivated plants around them. But is it really necessary to fight it?
Pork with eggplant - a delicious stew with vegetables and spicy rice, easy and simple to prepare for dinner or lunch. It will take about half an hour to prepare, so this recipe can be classified as “if you need dinner quickly.” The dish turns out nourishing, aromatic, piquant. Turmeric gives the ingredients a beautiful golden-yellow color, while cloves, cardamom, garlic and chili add a piquant touch to the dish. For this recipe, choose lean meat.
Seed propagation in the garden strawberries we are used to, unfortunately, leads to the appearance of less productive plants and weaker bushes. But another type of these sweet berries, alpine strawberries, can be successfully grown from seeds. Let's learn about the main advantages and disadvantages of this crop, consider the main varieties and features of agricultural technology. The information presented in this article will help you decide whether it is worth allocating a place for it in the berry garden.
Despite the confusion with the name “Christmas cactus” that has accumulated over the past decades, one of the most recognizable and colorful forest cacti, epiphyllums, remains everyone’s favorites. Leafless, with flattened stems, flowering amazingly profusely, hybrid epiphyllums with their hanging shoots and delicate flowers do not require particularly complex care from their owners. They can become the most striking flowering succulent plant in any collection.
Merchant style buckwheat with meat and pumpkin is an easy recipe for a delicious dinner or lunch. I recommend finishing it in the oven, although you can also cook it on the stove. Firstly, it tastes better in the oven, as the buckwheat steams, becomes very tasty, and the meat turns out tender. Secondly, the hour that it languishes in the oven can be spent on yourself or communicating with loved ones. Perhaps many will decide that buckwheat with meat is an ordinary dish, but try cooking it according to this recipe.
Often, when we see a beautiful flower, we instinctively bend down to smell its fragrance. All fragrant flowers can be divided into two large groups: nocturnal (pollinated by moths) and daytime, whose pollinators are mainly bees. Both groups of plants are important for the florist and designer, because we often walk around the garden during the day and relax in our favorite corners when evening comes. We are never overwhelmed by the scent of our favorite fragrant flowers.
Many gardeners consider pumpkin to be the queen of garden beds. And not only because of its size, variety of shapes and colors, but also for its excellent taste, healthy qualities and rich harvest. Pumpkin contains a large amount of carotene, iron, various vitamins and minerals. Thanks to the possibility of long-term storage, this vegetable supports our health all year round. If you decide to plant a pumpkin on your plot, you will be interested in learning how to get the largest possible harvest.
Scotch eggs - incredibly delicious! Try to prepare this dish at home, there is nothing difficult in preparation. Scotch eggs are a hard-boiled egg wrapped in minced meat, breaded in flour, egg and breadcrumbs and deep-fried. For frying, you will need a frying pan with a high side, and if you have a deep fryer, then that’s just great - even less hassle. You will also need oil for frying so as not to smoke in the kitchen. Choose farm eggs for this recipe.
One of the most amazing large-flowered tubs of Dominican Cubanola fully justifies its status as a tropical miracle. Warm-loving, slow-growing, with huge and in many ways unique bells of flowers, Cubanola is a fragrant star with a complex character. It requires special conditions in the rooms. But for those who are looking for exclusive plants for their interior, a better (and more chocolatey) candidate for the role of indoor giant cannot be found.
Chickpea curry with meat is a hearty hot dish for lunch or dinner, inspired by Indian cuisine. This curry is quick to prepare but requires some prep. The chickpeas must first be soaked in plenty of cold water for several hours, preferably overnight; the water can be changed several times. It is also better to leave the meat in the marinade overnight so that it turns out juicy and tender. Then you should boil the chickpeas until tender and then prepare the curry according to the recipe.
Rhubarb cannot be found in every garden plot. It's a pity. This plant is a storehouse of vitamins and can be widely used in cooking. What is not prepared from rhubarb: soups and cabbage soup, salads, delicious jam, kvass, compotes and juices, candied fruits and marmalade, and even wine. But that's not all! The large green or red rosette of leaves of the plant, reminiscent of burdock, acts as a beautiful background for annuals. It is not surprising that rhubarb can also be seen in flower beds.
Today, the trend is to experiment with unusual combinations and non-standard colors in the garden. For example, plants with black inflorescences have become very fashionable. All black flowers are original and specific, and it is important for them to be able to select suitable partners and location. Therefore, this article will not only introduce you to an assortment of plants with slate-black inflorescences, but will also teach you the intricacies of using such mystical plants in garden design.
3 delicious sandwiches - a cucumber sandwich, a chicken sandwich, a cabbage and meat sandwich - a great idea for a quick snack or for an outdoor picnic. Just fresh vegetables, juicy chicken and cream cheese and a little seasoning. There are no onions in these sandwiches; if you wish, you can add onions marinated in balsamic vinegar to any of the sandwiches; this will not spoil the taste. Having quickly prepared snacks, all that remains is to pack a picnic basket and head to the nearest green lawn.
Depending on the varietal group, the age of seedlings suitable for planting in open ground is: for early tomatoes - 45-50 days, average ripening periods - 55-60 and late ones - at least 70 days. When planting tomato seedlings at a younger age, the period of its adaptation to new conditions is significantly extended. But success in obtaining a high-quality tomato harvest also depends on carefully following the basic rules for planting seedlings in open ground.
Nowadays you can increasingly see baskets for bulbs in stores. Some people think that they are for storage, and they can actually store bulbs until planting. But these baskets are actually designed for planting bulbs.
Planting baskets: advantages
The undoubted advantage of baskets is that they fix and hold the bulbs in one place, at a certain depth. Such baskets are more suitable for growing freesias, and all plants that require planting in the fall - daffodils, muscari, etc. You can even plant callas in a similar way.
The location where the basket is installed is easy to find. If necessary, it can be carefully removed along with its contents. In addition, baskets protect plants from rodents, which readily eat tubers and bulbs.
How to plant bulbs in baskets
It is advisable to pour a layer of coarse sand at the bottom of the basket and place the planting bulbs directly in the sand.
When perennials and bulbs are planted, the issue of distance between plants is important, given their tendency to gradually grow. In the basket, growth is minimal.
Depending on the shape and size of the basket, you can plant a different number of bulbs in it. Small-bulbous plants (crocuses, muscari, pushkinia, galanthus, ornithogalums, scillas) are planted at a distance of 5–6 cm from each other. You can take both small baskets with a diameter of 20 cm and large ones with a diameter of 30 cm, depending on what kind of flower bed you want to get.
Large and daffodils are planted at a distance of 10 cm from each other, small tulips - 6-8 cm, hyacinths - 10-12 cm, imperial hazel grouse - 15-20 cm.
Small baskets usually hold 2 large onions and 5-6 small ones. Medium baskets (27.5 cm) - up to 7 large onions and 12 small ones, and the largest ones - up to 10-12 large onions and more than 25 small ones.
How are bulbs planted in these baskets, what are they for, what are their advantages?
After planting, the basket with the bulbs is sprinkled with earth and watered.
Before planting, the bulbs are treated with fungicides and biostimulants (Kornevin).
Typical bulbs (tulips, daffodils, crocuses) are dug up in mid-summer, in July, dried, and planted back in the fall. This does not have to be done every year, you can do it once every 2-3 years. In the fall, tuberous and rhizomatous plants (dahlias, cannas, callas, begonias) are usually dug up, but, as a rule, they are not planted in baskets.
Using baskets for bulbs, you will provide plants with optimal conditions for development, and simplify the work of planting, digging and replanting bulbs for yourself.
How justified is it to plant tulips in bulb baskets?
Tulips are in demand for garden decoration for a number of reasons. They require minimal care, are hardy, and germinate much earlier than other flowers. You can plant flowers not only in open ground. Planting tulips in baskets and other bulb containers has a number of advantages.
Advantages of planting in baskets
The difficulty in growing tulips is that from year to year you need to dig up plants that have already bloomed in order to select suitable bulbs for the next planting. It is much easier to select roots from baskets. The risk of damage during digging is minimal, which is especially important for valuable, expensive and rare varieties.
Source: Depositphotos
Planting tulips in baskets and other containers is quite justified
Other advantages of planting in baskets are no less significant:
- This is a reliable protection for plant bulbs from small rodents.
- It is not necessary to look for a planting site with suitable soil. Simply fill the baskets with a loose, fertile mixture.
- After flowering has finished, it is not necessary to wait until the plants dry out. Put them away along with the basket.
- It is convenient to sort tulips by variety.
- The bulbs will not get lost under a layer of soil.
Instead of baskets for bulbs, you can use other containers, for example, cut plastic bottles, transparent containers, plastic boxes, mesh bags. If you are using plastic containers without holes, make them by hand using a soldering iron.
Planting tulips in bulb baskets
You can watch a video of planting tulips in bulb baskets below. In general, the process is no different from planting directly in open ground and proceeds according to the following plan:
- Until mid-autumn, place baskets with fertile soil in holes in flower beds. Dig holes that are exactly the size of the baskets.
- Plant the bulbs in the ground at a distance of 10-15 cm from each other.
- Sprinkle the plantings with the same fertile soil.
- Mulch the plants with 2 cm of peat.
If you live in regions where winter is snowy and not very frosty, do not cover tulips during the cold season. If your region has little snow and harsh winters, cover the tulips with fallen leaves after the top layer of soil freezes.
Tulips are undemanding plants, so caring for them means watering as the soil dries out and eliminating weeds. If you grow rare and valuable varieties, do not forget to loosen the soil at least once every 2 weeks.
Growing tulips in containers makes the work much easier, so this method of planting is very profitable.
New technologies are also coming to summer cottages, making it easier for owners to care for plants. Why dig up the soil every summer looking for tulip bulbs when you can plant them in baskets and containers? The flowers have withered and no longer decorate the flowerbed, and it is too early to dig up the underground part; it is not yet ripe for development next season. The problem is solved simply: you take out the basket, and in its place the planting of seedlings of summer flowers begins. A container with rhizomes can be buried in an inconspicuous corner of the site; the tubers will continue to develop and will not notice the transplant.
Advantages and disadvantages of the new method
Any technique has both supporters and opponents, and the arguments of both sides can be quite convincing. The florist must understand that he does not work on a conveyor belt with metal blanks or in a laboratory, but in living nature. You don’t have the ideal soil composition, it’s impossible to maintain optimal temperature and humidity, you need to learn to work with what you have and understand the needs of your “pets.” Depending on the situation, one owner’s plants will feel great in containers, while another owner’s plants will not like this planting.
Let's see why growing in baskets and containers is preferable.
- Saving planting material: the bulbs are not damaged, it is possible to find even very small “babies” in the ground.
- Rodents and large insect pests will not penetrate the bulbs through the small cells of the basket.
- If the soil on the site is bad, there is no need to add compost and humus to the entire flowerbed. You can fill the container with the most suitable soil for flowers.
- When the tulips fade, you can immediately remove the container from the flower garden and make room for planting other plants.
- If you plant each type in a separate container, you will never confuse the varieties of bulbs.
- In rainy weather, you don’t have to plant and dig up rhizomes from liquid mud; everything can be done in a warm, dry room.
Of the significant drawbacks, probably only one can be found: in a closed container, any infection is quickly transmitted from one plant to another. For prevention, treat the soil and planting material with disinfectant compounds. At each transplant, carefully inspect the tulip bulbs and discard diseased and damaged specimens. Other comments can be found: a large container is difficult to remove from the ground and move. But no one forbids using several small baskets for bulbous flowers instead of one huge box. There are complaints that the material of the basket is too fragile and easily cracks when removed with a shovel. Handle your equipment carefully; if you act like a bear, you can break anything.
If you doubt whether container planting of bulbous crops is so good, you can test it in practice. Divide tulip bulbs of the same variety into two equal piles. Grow some flowers in open ground, and others in a basket. Perhaps the plants will do better without a container. Consider 2 options: either you are using the basket incorrectly, or tulips are actually better suited to growing free.
If you cannot purchase a special basket for bulbs, use plastic vegetable boxes or other containers. Use a hot soldering iron to make many holes in the solid walls and bottom so that the surface resembles a slotted spoon or colander.
Planting tulips in baskets
These flowers love light, fertile soils; sandy loam with a slightly alkaline reaction is the most suitable. If tulips have been growing and blooming well in the flowerbed for many years, you can collect soil from there. Please note that last year's planting pulled a significant amount of nutrients from the soil. It is worth adding compost to restore fertility. If there is no suitable soil on the site, purchase soil from the store. The purchase will not require a lot of money: the volume of the basket is small, and the soil will be concentrated in containers and not scattered throughout the flower garden.
Sort the bulbs by size. Place a small layer of sand at the bottom of the basket for drainage, then a little soil and plant the largest rhizomes. Cover them with soil, plant medium-sized specimens higher, and the smallest ones very close to the surface. Compact the soil, moisten it with water so that there are no air pockets left, and you can take the container out to the site.
Choose a place in the flower garden that receives good sun light but is not exposed to wind. Dig a hole the size of the basket, place a container there and cover with earth. A flower bed made from several different containers will look like a single space, and caring for the plantings will become much easier. Once flowering is over and you have removed the boxes, you can level the surface and sow fast-growing flowers or plant perennials.
Caring for tulips in containers
Conventional care of flowers in a flower bed comes down to several operations:
- watering;
- weeding;
- loosening;
- fertilizing
If you take good soil, the likelihood that weeds will grow there is very small, and loosening is unlikely to be required. The hydrogel embedded in the soil will not allow moisture to evaporate quickly, and watering will not be required too often. In the spring, you can feed the plants with complex fertilizer with nitrogen for rapid development, and before flowering, enrich the soil with phosphorus and potassium.
In mid-summer, the bulbs need to be dug up and stored in a dark, warm place so that they accumulate strength for the winter. In autumn, planting tulips will not take much time; this work can be done indoors in rainy weather. Return the baskets with rhizomes to their old place or select another site for them. If you want to insulate plants for the winter, use fallen leaves, peat, and sawdust. Avoid conifer shavings: tulips may not like a high concentration of resin.
Typically, working people can come to the site only on weekends; on other days, elderly family members look after the dacha. Not every pensioner can bend over and take care of a flower garden. Planting bulbous flowers in baskets and containers will not require you to be in an inclined position for a long time. In the summer, you will take the box out of the ground and take it indoors, where mom, sitting comfortably on a chair, can leisurely sort out the bulbs.
Site design
You can grow not only tulips in baskets, but also many other bulbous crops. Crocuses, daffodils, and snowdrops usually bloom in early spring, and in summer they only spread tubers throughout the flowerbed. If you want to create artistic chaos at your dacha, there will be nothing wrong if tulips of different colors are mixed, lilies of the valley and hyacinths appear among the irises. Flowers that do not need to be dug up will, in a few years, go beyond the space allotted to them and begin to spread into other people's territories.
You can do it differently. Planting bulbs of different types in separate baskets will allow you to create a beautiful spring composition in your flower garden. When flowering stops, the container can be moved to another corner of the garden, the bulbs will be protected from rodents all summer, and new plants will appear in the flowerbed. Instead of an ornament of tulips and crocuses, a clearing of snapdragons and calendula is formed in front of the house.
Baskets with the underground part of plants that do not need to be replanted every year can be left in the ground until autumn. Tulip bulbs need to be removed from the ground in the summer and planted again in August. Before frost, return all containers to the flower garden, bury them according to a well-thought-out pattern and leave them for the winter. In spring, early flowers will open again in the flowerbed.
Conclusion
Tulips decorate the area only in the spring, and then the flowerbed looks unsightly due to the fading greenery. Planting bulbous plants in a special basket will help solve this problem: immediately after flowering, the container can be moved to another place, and the vacant area can be occupied by other ornamental crops. This method is indispensable if you want to use various shapes in the design of your flower bed: the bulbs will not “spread” beyond the boundaries of the container, and the outline of the design will be clear.
This method is perfect for the elderly and disabled: young relatives will move the containers indoors, and all work on planting and harvesting the bulbs can be done on a comfortable table. Caring for flowers becomes much easier; they do not require weeding or loosening. If the site is located on infertile soils, there is no need to enrich the entire flower garden with humus and compost; it is enough to fill the basket with good soil. Working with flowers should not bring you fatigue, but pleasure. Baskets for bulbs will make caring for plants as easy as possible, and you will happily admire beautiful flower arrangements.
But the bright beauty of bulbous plants also has a downside. After flowering, these plants have a nondescript appearance that can ruin the appearance of any flower garden. Here you have to either dig up the bulbs after a couple of weeks, since the likelihood that they will germinate next year is very small, or wait until the leaves turn completely yellow, that is, until mid-summer. This problem can be partly solved by planting bulbous plants among perennials so that they hide the yellowing leaves. True, this method is only suitable for bulbous plants that do not require digging in the fall. There is also a universal solution - baskets for bulbs. Most likely, many of you have heard about them, but did not quite understand how and why they are used. In this article we will talk about what bulb baskets are, what they are needed for, their pros and cons, and alternative solutions. Let's try to figure it out.
Baskets for bulbs - advantages and disadvantages of use
Baskets for bulbs are very simple devices. Outwardly, they resemble small (from 30 to 50 cm in diameter) plastic containers with longitudinal cutouts along the walls and a mesh bottom. The walls are also mesh. You've probably come across them in gardening or hardware stores.
A basket for planting bulbs has many advantages over conventional planting in the ground. Firstly, the bulbs in baskets can be prepared for shelter, reliably protecting them from the harsh winter cold. After the flowering season of bulbs ends, you will no longer have to mask unsightly drooping stems or dig up bulbs at the risk of damaging them. It is enough just to remove the basket from the ground and replant it in a place where they cannot disturb the beauty of your site and continue to take care of them. And, of course, it is much easier to get the bulbs out of the basket; the risk of harming them is minimal. To do this, you need to carefully turn the basket upside down and carefully disassemble the nests of the bulbs. It is not necessary to dig up small bulbous plants. You can leave them to overwinter in baskets.
Also, many bulbous plants are not able to stay planted for a long time. They can grow throughout the entire area, or they may even go underground. And then you will have to disturb the entire flower garden in search of the treasured bulbs. And there is a danger of harming the remaining flowers and significantly spoiling the appearance of the planting. By using baskets for bulbs, these problems can be easily avoided. The baskets will never get lost in the ground or in the flower bed, and when digging, you will not damage areas with flowering plants. Everyone knows that in order to grow bulbous flowers and plants, it is necessary to prepare the appropriate soil. Some bulbous plants, such as daffodils, will feel quite good in poorly cultivated soil, however, the vast majority of plants require complex, fertile soils to make them more decorative. A tulip, for example, will need sandy, slightly alkaline soil, where the cultivated layer will be at least fifty meters deep. If you plant flowers in the ground, you will need to cultivate the entire area of the future flower garden, however, planting bulbs in baskets completely solves this problem. In baskets you can locally create the required soil conditions without any difficulties and without wasting time on cultivating large areas. It's no secret that bulbs in the ground are a treat for many types of rodents. Horticultural forums are inundated with reports of entire batches of bulbous flowers being destroyed before they even emerge. If mice, voles, moles and other living creatures are frequent guests on your site, and such a sad prospect looms before your flower beds, then baskets for bulbous plants will undoubtedly become your salvation. Even if the sensitive sense of smell of underground animals leads them to the bulbs, it will not be so easy for them to overcome the durable plastic walls of the vessel.
However, this device for planting bulbous plants also has its disadvantages, however, very 
subjective. Many gardeners are of the opinion that the use of baskets deprives the finished planting of its naturalness, whereas, having the opportunity to grow, they can create the illusion of a spring meadow untouched by man. There is nothing to object to this, since the appearance of the flower garden and the area as a whole is only a matter of preference. Another disadvantage of baskets is that after some time the bulbs will grow and there may not be enough space for them in the basket, and crowded conditions are not the most conducive atmosphere for flowering. But this is not at all a contraindication for using baskets. It’s easy to avoid this development of events - choose containers of the right size. Fortunately, their choice today is quite diverse. You will probably be able to choose a basket that suits you in diameter and depth.
Planting bulbs in baskets
Planting bulbs in containers is not much different from traditional planting in the ground. First, the soil is prepared in accordance with the needs of certain plants, then pre-selected bulbs are treated with special fungicides to prevent the development of fungi and bacteria. Flowerbeds or beds are pre-prepared. In the places chosen for planting, recesses are dug, corresponding in size to the baskets. After this, the bottom of the basket is lightly sprinkled with sand to avoid moisture stagnation, the prepared onions are laid out in the intended order. The containers are placed in pre-dug holes and covered with the remaining soil after digging.
However, it is not at all necessary to use the standard script. After all, the basket offers many different options for planting bulbs. For example, you can make a multi-level planting of different types of bulbs. For such planting, the first part of the soil is poured into the bottom of the basket - the largest bulbs will be located in it. They are covered with a thin layer of soil on top, on which smaller bulbs are placed, and they are also covered with earth. On the topmost layer, small-onion varieties are laid out and the last part of the soil is poured. Baskets with multi-layer plantings are buried in the ground to the full depth of the container, leaving up to five centimeters on top. This kind of planting overwinters well under cover of fallen leaves.
Bulbous ones look good in the middle of green. If containers are used, such plantings will not spoil its appearance or disrupt the integrity of the grass. To prevent your lawn from being damaged by planting, carefully mark a square piece that matches the size of the basket and cut it out with a shovel. Carefully remove the layer and loosen the soil underneath. Lower the basket into the hole, cover with soil, lightly tamp down and water. After this, put the sod back in place, press it down a little and water again. When your bulbs fade, you can easily remove the baskets, keeping the lawn in its original form. You can also create various patterns on your lawns. Plant flowers in waves, in the shape of a romantic heart or a funny snail. A basket for planting bulbs will greatly simplify this task for you. Mark the intended pattern on the lawn, and then use a rope or cord to outline its contours. After marking, proceed as described above. And you can be sure that the flowers from your pattern will not spread out, disturbing the picture, the baskets will firmly hold them in place.
Alternatives to Baskets for Bulbs
As mentioned above, baskets for planting bulbs can now be bought at almost any hardware or garden store. However, not everyone is satisfied with ready-made factory designs with their shapes and sizes, and some simply cannot afford to constantly buy such devices. After all, plastic baskets are quite 
fragile and easy to damage with a shovel when removed from the ground. In this case, there is nothing left but to make a device for planting bulbs with your own hands, using available materials.
For example, various meshes can be used as an alternative to baskets. Many gardeners successfully use mesh bags and string bags. This device has a number of advantages. The material for the nets is very elastic, so you cannot tear or split it. To plant bulbs in mesh bags, you need to dig a hole, line it with a net, fold the bulbs and tie them up. If you leave a small piece of material on the surface when burying, you can easily find the right place and easily remove the bulbs by carefully pulling the bag by the edges. In the same net, the bulbs can be stored until subsequent planting and treated with a fungicide in it. True, such a device does not have a clearly defined shape, and therefore it will be quite difficult to carry out multi-layer plantings with its help, and the mesh will not be a hindrance for voracious rodents.
You can use boxes to store vegetables. The design is almost identical to ready-made baskets, but much more spacious. For multi-level plantings, this design will be just right. One of the disadvantages is its cumbersomeness. Such a box will be difficult to place on the lawn, much less adapt it for patterned plantings. The use of plastic bottles is also practiced. This design is well suited for a small number of bulbs, has flexible walls, and if the integrity is damaged, it is easy to replace. True, making the necessary holes in the bottle without damaging the walls will not be easy, and thin plastic is unlikely to stop rodents.
In fact, pros and cons can be found in almost any device: expensive and cheap, rare and affordable, factory-made or home-made. Each of us can immediately decide what is right for him. Therefore, the choice is yours. We hope that this article will help you do it properly.
