Planting bulbs

HI
I'm very much an amateur gardener and have never been able to get bulbs to grow- apart from snowdrops which just appeared .
I don't have a greenhouse or frame of any sort (though may buy a cheap one if I need to)as I have been given a load of bulbs including Anemone Blanda, Freesia, gladioli and Ixia Hogarth.
Any advice on how to get them to grow?
I've read that it's best to soak them first which is fine and have instructions on how deep and far apart to plant but even when I followed them last year I only got a couple of flowers from about 50 bulbs.
I'd like to put them straight in garden but is it too cold/wet?
Should I plant them in Pots then transfer to garden? If so what size of pot? Do I plant singly or several per Pot? How do I know how deep the roots will Grow?
What compostime should I Use?

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner

I'm veg and wildflowers department, but i'm sure someone will be along in a bit

 

Hi @NEL welcome
Not much help but Ixia and freesia have never flowered for me the 2 years I tried them, I haven't grown anemone blanda but I have grown anemone coronaria and they have flowered pretty much since I potted them up ( which are under the same instructions as blanda in my books), I planted more last October in the ground (I have wet clayish soil) and they're all popping up nicely. Gladioli don't need soaking but seeing as you have, it wouldn't hurt to pot them but they don't like frost so maybe wrapping the pot up or putting in sheltered place will help, they will need lifting 6 weeks after flowering or when the leaves have totally gone brown, you pull the old shriveled corm off and keep the new one on top (wrap it in a bit of newspaper and label the color for reference), they do give you lots of baby cormlets you can also stick in a pot and grow on but they will take a few years to flower and will be the same colour as the parent.

 

Turns out I did plant anemone blanda last Oct. Took these yesterday, did look for the thread..

I've also picked up freesia which I totally forgot about.. may as well get ixia (and sparaxis which failed) and try again!

 

Freesias originally came from South Africa and need a dry hot summer "bake" to flower. Many sold for summer flowering in the UK are heat treated and disappear after the first summer as they cannot cope with the cool damp winters we get.
I have grown them, for many years, as follows I plant them in the autumn in big pots 20 or so to a large pot and leave outside until they sprout. Once they sprout I move them into a cold greenhouse and water occasionally, keep an eye open for aphids. Around February flower buds start to appear and then open March/April providing cut flowers for the house. Once flowering is finished they get moved out of the greenhouse and left to die off. Once they have died off I take the bulbs out clean them off discard any damaged ones and place them in a tray in the shed where they bake over the summer before replanting in the autumn. I have only had a couple of failures when we had very cool damp summers after which I got very few flowers.
Generally most bulbs don't like wet heavy soil, they much prefer good drainage especially if left in the ground all year round.

 

Hmm that's my problem heavy wet soil, I think I might of planted them too deep in the ground as well. I'll try them in pots this year, thanks Nigel for the info

 

those should be planted as deep as you would a crocus bulb, about to the 2 knuckle of your finger. I have several types, they like to make babies etc. there is on that is a rare darling, its probably in my pics of my gardens.

 

Hi Redstar,

I've just tried to have s look at your photos but it says you haven't got any ! :(

 

Let me see if they are on my facebook. have had trouble uploading here, so skipped here often. trust me have a ton.
Like here is one I can up load.

 

In this line up, the top blue is the rare one. I have many other spots where the white are around the property as well as regular blue, and some purples. My gardens are ruffly 26 years old. been posting pics here for a while, now there is uploading issues. And I am actually bored will posting the same plants each year, as the same come up in the general same area. So trust me if I say I have them, I do have them. By the way as far as BULBS, we estimate over 100,000 bulbs on our property.

Ok, so there you go @Anthony Rogers . Looks like the key is to find the pics on facebook and download to my computer then upload here. Some I probably did put on photobucket. But if they fixed the thing here, well we can dream.

BTW, in case your wondering, the tall blue flowers behind the white ones are Virginia Blue bells, and those are hard to come across and expensive for what I am told. Did sell a bunch to a man last spring, he gave me $60.00 for them, said they are rare. Mine just go nuts here.

 

Lush, hope mine multiply out like yours. I only made that bed last year, so just dotted them about, same with the back border. I remember you posting about those Virginia bluebells, they're really pretty

 

Anemone Blanda: I love these; they do need well drained soil and will not survive on clay. Either make a sandy bed or grow something else if you have clay. If on well drained soil they will survive really cold winters and dry summers. They flower pretty early and are such a delight on sunny early spring days.

 

The front bed is quite stony and sloped.. not holding much hope for the back border though, soil is heavy there. Ah well, I won't know if I don't try!