It might seem ludicrous to think about next spring’s planting before we’ve finished tidying this year’s borders, but garden centres are awash with spring-flowering bulbs accompanied by glossy pictures of brightly coloured blooms. For a fine spring show you need to start planting now, with the exception of tulips, which should be delayed until October or early November.
Whatever your planting scheme, choose healthy-looking bulbs. When fossicking through a tray of narcissi, always go for the larger ones as they’ll produce stronger, sturdier plants, and avoid spindly wee things like the plague. Species that have little bulbs, like crocus, scylla or erythronium don't vary as much in size, but still make sure to pick the larger specimens.
The bulbs should be firm and clean, with no hint of mould or squashiness. I avoid packs of bulbs because I can’t check individual ones to be sure that they’re all up to the mark.
In a very large garden, there’s nothing to beat a broad drift of snowdrops, daffodils or winter aconites, but you can use pots to put on a show in a patio or a border. As a bonus, you’ll find it’s a lot easier to protect potted plants from the ravages of mice, squirrels and badgers. Luckily, those little fellas don’t know abut wire cutters, so bulbs can be kept safe if planted beneath wire mesh. This is the only way I can prevent marauding badgers from trashing my precious tulips.
Use rabbit net for broader-leaved bulbs, like tulips, and finer mesh chicken wire for narrow-leaved crocus or snowdrops. Cut the wire slightly larger than the pot’s width, plant the bulbs, cover with compost, then lay out the net, tucking it down round the inside edge and topping with compost to conceal the net. Keep an eye on the pot and tweak any leaves through the net if necessary.
There are two main approaches to planting bulbs in containers: either fill a pot with the same variety to make a big statement or plant bulbs to bloom successionally in the same pot. This second way involves using varieties that mature at different times; it's important to remember the timing will not be affected by the depth at which you plant the bulbs.
Inevitably, each method has strengths and weaknesses. When flowers all come at the same time, you let them do their thing and die back naturally, all set to grow away next year. This is a sustainable and much cheaper way to garden. I prefer this technique because it lets me use several pots to achieve a goodly succession of different species. When one pot is over, I tuck it away out of sight and replace it with a flowering one.
I also use a couple of metre-long troughs for an arrangement. After half filling the troughs with pebbles, I sink several small pots inside and, after flowering, swap them for fresh blooms. You’d get the same effect by filling a large 40-litre pot with two or three smaller ones.
Inevitably, you need a lot of pots, compost and space for this, so the lasagne approach is a sensible alternative when space is limited. By planting varieties that flower at different times in the same container, you’ll achieve a longer flowering season.
The major drawback is that you have to treat the bulbs as annuals. This is because a pot starts looking a mess when the first flowers fade, and leaves yellow and die. The next flush of flowers could never hide this, so you have to cut back the dead vegetation and effectively kill the plant.
It doesn’t help to arrange the bulbs in segments, with all the plants in one group flowering at the same time. Even when you turn the pot to highlight the attractive section, your eye still falls on the decaying vegetation.
If you are willing to replace bulbs every year, you can achieve a display that will last a few weeks but not a few months. Choose varieties that flower at much the same time, then the number of bulbs you have crammed in to the pot will be sufficient to create an impact. Otherwise you will have very few in bloom at any one time.
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