How do you "force" bulbs Yes I'm new

I know that is the dumbest thing you've probably ever heard. I do plant bulbs, but it's just sort of hit and miss.
I want to have a bed with just daffodils, etc. I don't know what to put together and I'd like to have them where when one stops blooming, another will.
I have an old 55 gallon aquarium that I want to use like a small greenhouse outside. Can I plant bulbs in there now?

First, do a search to determine whether you can find bulbs. It's very late in the season even for clearance sales. It's almost certainly too late to get bulbs that will bloom in sucession because most are gone now. You would need them to be chilled in storage at this point unless you have a supplier of pre-chilled bulbs.

If you can find some bulbs on sale, throw them in the fridge and then pot them up and chill the potted bulbs for a month or so. They should come up if you can find them. Your aquarium plan probably won't work unless you have a way to chill it.

Lorraine--
Here is a good, inexpensive book:
http://www.gardenlunacy.com/little_blue_book_bulb_forcing.htm

Debbie
=)

Debbie, thanks for that link! I've been looking for a good, inclusive set of instructions on forcing bulbs. I just ordered it. :-)

What's nice is its inexpensive; you would probably spend a lot more than that with one bulb purchase! =)

Debbie, have you ordered that book, yourself? Mine came today... I'm sure it's got good information, and I'm looking forward to absorbing it, but I have to say I was startled by its size. When the web site said 40 pages, I was thinking "The Little Blue Book" wouldn't be lengthy... but I wasn't expecting the "booklet" to be 4x5 inches in size. Perhaps it will make up for size by the pure gold of its content. :-)

Yes, I ordered it but it has not arrived yet.

I've paged through it, and I'm impressed... it's well written, and it's even entertaining to read.

I guess the description does say "40 page booklet" and not "40 page book," but I was just expecting something larger, somehow. But there's a lot of information and experience condensed onto those itty bitty pages. :-)

This was my first year trying to force tulip bulbs, and right now have quite a few buds - looking forward to them opening, just hope it's before I go on vacation! I chilled them in the fridge for a couple weeks, then potted them and kept them in a cool basement a few more weeks, then brought them upstairs and they are now on my kitchen counter.

Good for you! I'm hoping against hope that sticking them in my cool-ish garage counts as chill time... I don't care if they "force" early, I just want them to bloom eventually, the poor bulbs that didn't get planted before various family stuff cut my fall garden time short!

I've heard he is a funny author--that's one reason I got it. Not too many people write humorous bulb books. I'm hoping I can enter the Fleuresence flower show in town in May with the knowledge from the book--he's won a lot of flower shows. Hope it rubs off. ;)