Bulb Lasagne – The Dos and Don’ts

I’m about to lift my dahlias from their pots and store them. This will free up two large pots in which I will create a bulb lasagne.

I’m the world’s worst cook, but this lasagne creation is right up my street. For those who don’t know, it’s simply when you plant bulbs in typically two or three layers in a container.

The Advantages of a Bulb Lasagne

There are a few good reasons to give a bulb lasagne a go. First up, you can plant things with a slightly different flowering period in the same pot – say crocuses and tulips. This creates a lovely long succession of flowers – so you get a lot of prolonged interest from one, space efficient container.

You can also go for things which bloom broadly at the same time but which give you a knockout colour combination. For instance the combination below is completely made up of early flowering tulips – so this isn’t so much about an extended flowering period, but the colour combination of Monsella, Verona, Abba and Monte Carlo below is so refreshing on the eye!

Lasagne planting also enables a clever mix of flower shapes which is lovely on the eye and of course very good for insects who need us to grow all sorts of different shaped plants.

Finally – and importantly I think – they’re fun to do. And surely if anything, gardening should be fun!

Put in those terms it is mighty appealing to get your bulb lasagne going. Especially as we’re bang in the middle of prime spring flowering bulb planting time (September – November). But before you dash off to get those bulbs, here are the key things to consider when cooking up a bulb lasagne.

Pot Size

Some pots simply are not deep enough for you to successfully plant multiple layers of bulbs. If you think logically about it, a typical bulb needs to be planted at three times their height. So if your top layer of bulbs is at that depth, and you are putting a bit of soil between them before the lower layer of bulbs, and they too need soil below them, your overall container needs to be quite deep. Especially if you’re going for three layers. It doesn’t have to be huge like the one above, but it can’t be small.

As a guide I’ve read you’ll need something at least 6 inches deep for two layers of bulbs. But I’d prefer a pot that’s at least 8 inches deep for two layers and obviously deeper still if you’re planting more layers than this. You also need your pot to be reasonably wide, otherwise your blooms won’t have room to strut their stuff.

Leaves

You need to think about the leaves of the things you’re planting. I’ve found that if you’re not careful you can end up with the leaves of one plant obscuring the blooms of another. In particular hyacinths, narcissi (daffodils) and tulips often have pretty chunky leaves. So I’d plant them deepest – ie first in your sequence.

That way, they come up after things like crocuses, dwarf irises and little grape hyacinths have had a chance to shine.

Flowering Time

You want your lowest layer of planting to be the last to flower. So for instance if you are combining tulips with crocuses (which can be a really popular combination), put the tulips which typically bloom in April and May in the container as the first layers. Then plant as your top layer of bulbs the crocuses, which will bloom in early spring.

How Many Bulbs

I’m all for generous planting, but when lasagne planting bulbs I dial down this habit slightly. After all you need to leave room for the lower layer or even layers of bulbs to grow through the top one. The experts suggest allowing a couple of fingers of space between each bulb. Definitely, whether lasagne planting or just planting, don’t have the bulbs touching each other or the walls of the container.

Don’t Worry About Bulb Blocking

Having said what I have about spacing the bulbs, you don’t need to worry that you’ve planted a bulb directly below another one. The bulb on the upper layer won’t block the bulb below it. As long as you’ve planted your top layer of bulbs two fingers apart, there will be room for the lower bulbs to come through. Nature has a drive to survive and the bulb below will find a way to the light.

Drainage

Choosing a well-drained container is important whenever you grow plants in pots. But bulbs in particular can’t cope with soggy conditions. You definitely need holes in the bottom of your container, I’d be tempted for protect the hole with an upturned bit of broken pot, so that the soil which follows can’t plug up the hole. I then always stand the pot on feet. You don’t need to buy expensive clay feet, squares of wood are fine. You just need something which keeps the pot off the ground and doesn’t block the drainage holes. As with all bulbs, I will plant a bulb lasagne in compost that’s generously mixed with grit to help with the drainage. I typically go for a grit to compost ratio of about 1:3

Bulb Lasagne Timing

For a spring flowering display you plant the bulbs in autumn. For summer flowering bulbs you plant your bulb lasagne in the spring.

Watering

Water your bulb lasagne after you’ve planted it up. And keep it well watered for the first few weeks while the bulbs are putting out their roots, but don’t have them soggy. Bulbs hate being soggy. After that your bulbs should be watered by the weather as you are obviously keeping these containers outside.

Though keep an eye out for a really dry winter. Don’t be fooled, just because it’s cold doesn’t mean it’s wet, as I found to my cost last year. The prolonged dry period over winter really affected the performance of some of my tulips.

Plan Ahead with your Bulb Lasagne

If you’re lasagne planting bulbs, work out the relative depths of your bulbs before you start, so that you don’t use up too much of the pot space with the first layers and have enough room in your pot for your plans. However, if your miscalculate (we’ve all been there) and your final layer of bulbs ends up very close to the surface, here’s a clever hack. Cover the soil with an upturned pot, to protect the top level of bulbs for a few weeks after planting. Then remove the pot. The top level of bulbs may turnout just fine.

Spring Flowering Bulb Combinations

Not sure what to put where? Here’s a cheats guide to help you

Layer 1 (lowest)	Layer 2 (middle)	Layer 3 (top)
Tulips Hyacinths Alliums	Narcissi Muscari Anemones	Crocuses Dwarf Iris Snowdrops

After Blooming

After your container has finished doing its thing you could keep the container of bulbs for next year.

In my experience tulips don’t come up so well a second time, but if you want to be thrifty and give it a go, then do.

Simply deadhead the blooms but leave the leaves so that they can feed the bulbs. I’d also give them a boost at this point with a liquid feed. Then the following autumn replace the top layer of compost with some fresh compost to add some nutrients to the pot.

Another option is to plant your bulb lasagne container of bulbs out into the garden. Most people suggest you set the pot somewhere until autumn, when you empty, organise, and replant the bulbs in your border or lawn.  Or if you want to use the container, extract the bulbs from each layer and pot them in shallow seed trays of fresh compost, with it just covering the bulb, water and keep them somewhere shaded – say a shed – until the autumn, when they can then be planted again in pots or in the ground.

Final Tips

Have a play – try different things out.

If you experiment with different combinations remember to keep a note of what you’ve tried – and what works. It’s all too easy to forget a good combination or worse still repeat a bad one!

I hope this inspires you to try your hand at a bulb lasagne. If you do, please share the combination you’re trying and how you get on. I’d love to compare notes! After all – you can’t have too much lasagne can you!! Happy gardening – x