If you get reliable rainfall over the winter, a good dollop at least once a week, then you may not need to water much at all. If you get a burst of unseasonable heat - then you will. For the species you've chosen, midwinter heat seems to shorten the flowering time quite a lot. Where I live the ground as such never freezes, except in frost hollows, in highly shady places, several hundred feet higher than I am. A big frost for me is quarter of an inch that's gone by lunchtime. I'm saying this as a run up to saying that you don't really need to park your bulbs in the vegie bin in the fridge until the end of the month - unless your soil holds the heat for a long time into the winter - to have success with the bulbs you want to grow. May I suggest an alternative to burlap? A decorative planter box with excellent drainage and enough room for the pots - plus an insulating filler into which you can plunge the pots to keep the soil temperature fairly even. (Untreated sawdust, bubblewrap covered with a layer of decorative mulch, etc) If you needed to, you could also put up hoops within the planter and cover it with a suitable thickness of horticultural fleece. (And/or a 'canopy' of chicken netting to keep out any rodents, or birds, high enough to let the leaves and flower stalks grow.) The big hazard with bulbs in pots is a freeze that lasts for days, then a thaw, and another freeze. With the soil frozen the actively growing bulbs actually die of thirst, more than the freezing. (In colder zones they go dormant over the long winter - so no harm done.) Bulbs for planting are usually old enough to have converted their bulbs into a freeze resistant carbohydrate - but the flower stalk may well be damaged by a sustained freeze. The leaves are usually fine. Bonedust isn't necessary in pot culture, and it can attract various creatures. If you are buying a potting mix suitable for bulbs then all the ingredients should be there. If you use plain mix - you can add some tomato food according to the instructions. Not too much nitrogen, and higher in potash is what's wanted. The most important thing for overwintering, IMO, is excellent drainage which comes from adding sharp grit to the mix if it hasn't already got it. Not sand. Little pebbles - between a sixteenth and a quarter-inch diameter - about one handful to four handfuls of mix. The roots ripple their way through and get a better grip, which is useful if you live in a windy area. For the Earlicheers - I'd go for a deeper planter, I think. In the garden they're deep-rooting and have a terrific root system. If you want to keep your bulbs for another season then deeper could well be better to get the development needed. Think 2 gallon pail... Dutch Iris - a lean mix, great drainage, and good sun. They need a good baking after flowering to get set up for the following year. About the pansies: yes, you can. The small-face pansies can be useful - and are less likely to be hammered by bad weather. Put them in at the same time you plant your bulbs, put a teaspoon of slow release below, just covered by mix, before you plant over the top. They can be useful indicators of the need to water the pots, too. If the small pansies droop you KNOW it's dry! Remember to keep the dead flowers picked off to have a long flowering season. As you're planning on using quite small pots, put the pansies with the cyclamineus daffodils and the crocuses but perhaps not the Alliums or the big daffs, which produce prodigious amounts of leaves. (You might want to consider adding those bulb hoop thingies to reduce leaf flop in a small space.) Another possible, with Thalia particularly, is to add a couple of Muscari bulbs for a dash of blue, if that appeals. For further protection you can top the pots with gravel or glass pebbles. That helps to keep the soil loose on the top and stops rainsplash.

grass clippings are only used if you're sure there was no spraying or spreading of any type of weed & feed. I thought I was lucky that there was a local place where people drop off their grass clippings by the truckload and it gets made into mulch that is free for anyone to take. This is the first time I ever got a bad, contaminated batch. Now I'm not sure about going back for more. I cut the 6" strips of carpet and put them in my raised bed where I pulled the favas out, going to replant favas tomorrow between the strips. Maybe I'll go to all carpet and no grass mulch from now on. :( It may be too hot to go out but the plants are growing like crazy the last few days so :)

Yours were not the only weather bones making complaints. I told several people that this was not going to be pleasant. We had a forecast of over 1/4 inch rain today, getting icky tonight. Well, it was about 35F, raining, soaking everything thoroughly after lightning and thunder and a good bit last night. Next thing I know that rain was WHITE! Over half an inch of white rain later, it decided to get "clear" again, and now it's coloring up again. IT IS APRIL darn it! All my daffodils are lying face down in their beds! Now that I think of it, I might go bry my head in my bed too!

lacking a root mass ... it will be hard to winter these over in some areas of the north ... pot or ground ... the good sellers get this kind of stuff and grows them on for 3 years ... and lose a certain percentage in winter ... i would not be surprised.. if the plant above.. is exactly the same size next year ... expecting much else.. is living near that river.. de nile ... maybe you will.. maybe you wont ... but dont expect much ... to have anything but long expectations... is dreaming.. there will be no instant gratification buying this small ... buy a few.. maybe you will win.. but more importantly.. you will be the next peep to be able to help the next guy with advice ... good or bad ... eh ... go for it ... ken