I live in a very dry climate. We normally don't get much snow over the winter, sometimes we get rain. Last year we had so much of both that it rotted my bulbs (tulips, daffs, etc.) Not a one came up. This year I'd like NOT to lose them. Does anybody have any good ideas about protecting from excess moisture? I think I've done pretty well on the soil part and didn't put any water crystals in this fall. I drilled wider holes in the bottom of my pots and covered them with pantyhose squares to keep the soil in. I added perlite to the soil-- no rocks at the bottom per Al. I think it will drain pretty well, but I'm not positive.
Protecting from excess rain and snow
Cover the pots except to allow enough moisture to prevent dehydration, is one way.
Group them under shelter until you see the tips sticking out of the pots, throwing a little snow on them occasionally to keep soil just damp.
Finally - you read my soil post, so you know there will, at times, likely be a layer of saturated soil at the bottom of the container. Let's say it's 3 inches deep. If the pot is level, the side view of saturated soil will look like a rectangle - right? (for the sake of discussion, we'll assume the sides are not tapered). That means you have 3 inches of soil above the entire surface area of the bottom of the container to hold water. If the bottom of the container is 10 sq inches, you have 30 cu inches of soil that is saturated. NOW - tilt the container at a 45* angle. The side view is now an inverted triangle with the tip down. Which will hold more water?
By tilting the container, you minimize the volume of saturated soil and correspondingly the total volume of water in the container by as much as 50% or more about (15 cu inches), depending on container shape. This trick works best if you have drain holes near the edge, but also works very well for containers with center drains.
To test it, saturate a sponge & hold it level with the longest dimension vertical. When the water has stopped draining, grasp the sponge by one corner & let it orient itself naturally with a corner down. You'll immediately see the additional water drain from the sponge. Even more will drain if your first orientation was level, but with the long dimension horizontal, indicating it would be especially helpful for shallow containers. ;o)
Al
Thanks, Al. It all makes sense. Now all I have to do is figure out how to tilt them and keep them from blowing over during our winter winds.