You'll love bulbs in your deck pots!

Are those deck pots you planted last spring out of bloom? Then now's the time to repot them with spring-flowering bulbs! Planting bulbs in pots is one of the easier garden projects you can do, and a great one for kids. And in the spring you can arrange the planters anywhere you'd like dazzling color… on your deck or front porch, right outside a window or in a window box. And it's a perfect idea for apartment patios, too.

Try planting up a dozen or so deck pots, most with Tulips and Lilies as they put on the best show of color. Daffodils, Hyacinth, and Crocus are also good choices. And make sure you plant a lot of bulbs in each pot, more than you would in a garden bed.

With your taller planters, try multi-layering the bulbs to encourage several weeks of continuous blooms. Start with some potting soil, then put in your first layer of bulbs. Add a couple more inches of potting soil, then another layer of bulbs on top of that. Finish off the project by adding the rest of the soil and watering.

It really is that simple. The cool winter weather and spring rains will then help these bulbs do their magic!

If you're worried about freezing temperatures in your area , here are a couple ways to protect the bulbs you put in planters. First, you can always move your planters into your garage during super cold weather.

Or you can try a slightly different planting method. Rather than planting bulbs right away in the big planters, plant up a whole bunch of 6" pots, making sure the soil fills right to the top of the pot. Then place all these pots together in one spot in your garden, preferably with a southern exposure. Water them really well and cover the whole area with bark dust. In this set-up, the pots insulate and protect each other from cold winds and weather. Then in the spring, uncover them and simply place several 6" pots in each of your planters, covering with a little more dirt to hide the smaller pots.

So get planting. All it takes is a stop at your Fred Meyer Garden Center!

Click to learn how to "force" bulbs to bloom indoors this winter.

While much of the information in these tips is applicable in several gardening zones/climates, some of the plants and timing suggested are best suited to the Northwest, generally in the mild/wet growing regions found along the I-5 corridor. You should make appropriate adjustments or consult local gardening experts in regions whose climates differ from this area of the Northwest.