The flowers you want crowding the borders in March are decided in a cold, damp fortnight now. Bulbs are about the cheapest colour you can buy, and an afternoon spent planting them is one of the most rewarding jobs in the gardening year.
Timing it right
Daffodils, crocus and most of the small bulbs go in from late September onwards. Tulips are the exception: leave them until November, when colder soil cuts the risk of the fungal disease tulip fire. There is no rush, then, to do everything in one go.
How deep and how far apart
The old rule of planting two to three times the bulb's own height holds up well. A fat daffodil sits roughly fifteen centimetres down, a crocus barely five. Plant too shallow and they heave out in frost; too deep and they sulk.
- Dig a generous hole rather than poking a dibber in dry ground.
- Set bulbs pointed end up, flat basal plate down.
- Plant in loose groups of seven or more, not lonely rows.
Layering a pot for weeks of colour
A single large pot can carry three tiers, sometimes called a bulb lasagne. Tulips go deepest, daffodils in the middle, and crocus or grape hyacinths near the surface. Each layer pushes up through the one above, so one container flowers from February to April.
After planting
Water pots once, then leave them somewhere cool. Squirrels can be a nuisance with tulips and crocus, so a square of chicken wire pressed over the compost until shoots appear saves a lot of muttering. Label what you planted, because by March you will have forgotten.