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What You'll Need to Make Your Indoor Winter Bulb Container
An attractive container for the bulbs
Winter bulbs Narcissus Grand Soliel d'or
Simple bulb fibre compost
Small watering for the soil
Newspaper to protect worktop
Narcissus Grand Soliel d'or is being used here because of the beautiful yellowy orange blooms they produce. They also have a superior scent over something like Paper Whites Bulbs that can seem musky and overwhelming to some.
Creating the Narcissus Bulb Container
First choose your favourite bowl or container to compliment the yellow orange hues of the Narcissus Grand Soliel d'or. Use a simple bulb fibre compost especially if using a container without any drainage holes.
If necessary prepare your work area and lay down some newspaper to protect the work-surface from any escaping soil.
Fill your pot two thirds full with soil and water in. Set the bulbs on top of the compost using around 5 or 6 bulbs to fill out the container. Make sure they're not touching then fill up with some more compost leaving around a 1 or 2 cm gap from the rim of the container pot.
Make sure that the tips can still be seen through the top of the soil. Water in again so the soil is nice and moist. If you've used a pot without drainage holes you need to pour off any excess water by turning the container on its side.
To encourage flowering you need to give them a period of 8 - 10 weeks in the cold and dark. Put them into the shed or garage if you can. Otherwise simply place the container into a black polythene bag and put it outside the backdoor.
Check up on the pot every now and again to ensure the compost doesn't completely dry out, or go too soggy, as this is a common cause for forced bulbs not to be successful. They need around 8 weeks to form good roots and flower buds.
When you see a stem tip rise to about 5 cm high that's the time to bring them indoors.
When indoors place them somewhere cool, out of direct sunlight, and not above a radiator. The aim is for the flower stems to come up slowly and steadily. Once they do come up, and if they're not as straight as you'd like, you can insert some supporting sticks and twigs to add to the overall look and to give support to the stems. Tie with a ribbon or coloured string to secure the stems.
Finish with dried leaves on top of the soil for a more colourful and textured effect.
Now you can enjoy your new winter flowering Narcissus bulbs for many weeks to come.
