pot bulbs

[old gardener]

I have pots of bulbs in the garden that have come to the end of their flowering season

I want to keep the bulbs in the pots for next year

at the moment all there is a the green leafs left

my questions are

1. do I or can I cut the leaves off and how far down?

2. or do I fold the leaves over?

3. my idea was to put bedding plants in the pots on the top of the bulbs with fresh compost for the rest of the season then remove the bedding plants and top layer of compost when they finish, is this an option I can do

[muddled]

I think you need to wait for the leaves to die back...they are absorbing energy via sunlight to 'recharge' the bulbs for next year.

[Bigmallly]

As Muddled said, let the foliage die back before cutting down but you can still put your bedding in.

[veggiechicken]

Hello old gardener and welcome to the Grapevine!
My winter bulb pots have just finished flowering so I've cut off the flower heads and left the leaves to die back naturally. There are still pansies in flower so they're not completely finished.
I'm tucking them away in a forgotten corner of the garden until the autumn and will put summer beddng in different pots.

[muddled]

oops!

Sorry old gardener....I didn't notice it was your first post!

Hello and a belated welcome to the vine

[Gillykat]

I'm tucking them away in a forgotten corner of the garden until the autumn and will put summer beddng in different pots.

That's what I do too I'm thinking perhaps that come the late summer or autumn I might lift them from the pots and plant them in the ground. I only had so many pots this spring because I still hadn't decided where all my different beds were going to be last autumn

2. or do I fold the leaves over?

No, never fold the leaves over as it stops the plants putting all that energy back into next year's bulb.