Every November or December, I like to pot up a couple or three dozen bulbs for indoor forcing. There’s nothing like having your own bouquet of blooms in February or March, when everything outside is gray or brown or white.

Rather than repeat myself verbatim, here’s a post from last year called “Forcing Bulbs for Indoor Color,” with photos and lots of how-to suggestions.

This year, I picked up four kinds of tulips at Matterhorn Nursery in Pomona. I’ve had good luck in years past with ‘Shirley’ and ‘Queen of Night.’ The other two, ‘Burgundy’ and ‘Blushing Girl’ are an experiment.

You want to really pack them in tightly, with just enough room to cover the bare bulbs with a layer of soil.

Here’s ‘Queen of Night’ in the same pot, from last March.

I also did hyacinthoides (Spanish bluebells).

Daffodils

And daffodils with muscari on the outer edge.

The hardest part about forcing bulbs is finding a spot that’s cold enough to trick the bulbs into blooming after a few weeks but not so cold that they freeze. Luckily, I’ve got an unheated basement with a couple of dirt-floor rooms that seem to be just the right temperature—38 to 50 degrees.

After potting them up, I water just once and then put them into plastic bags, ready to go to the basement for the winter.

Be sure to label them, with the name of the bulb and a guesstimate of when you think they’ll be ready to bring into the light. If you’re not sure on timing, check them for new growth after 12 weeks. If you see an inch or two of growth, they’re ready.

I try to check them every month or so, to make sure they’ve not moldy or dried out.