Tuesday 25 October 2011

Bulbling over...

As October Half Term is traditionally the time the children decide to get into the garden and use the water pistols they have ignored all summer, I have used the opportunity to plan ahead (for once) & get some spring bulbs in the ground.

I love bulbs: they are such low-maintenance plants and, if chosen well, can give welcome pops of colour throughout the year. It always surprises me that a brown dessicated husk can produce such exquisite flowers.

I have chosen a mass of mini bulbs to plant this year, from www.miniaturebulbs.co.uk . These have gone onto the small slope at the back of the garden. We originally left the bank as turf for the family to run up & down, but the shade from a huge Copper Beech (Fagus sylvatica 'Purpurea') has prevented the turf from growing, and given way to creeping buttercup (Ranunculus repens) & ivy (Hedera helix). I have weeded out the buttercup & ivy, and backfilled with a small handful of bulbs as I go. I hope to introduce wild flowers gradually to cover the dying bulb leaves in the summer.

I no longer bother sprinkling bonemeal in the holes, after the dog carefully dug up 50 bulbs one autumn, licked them clean of bonemeal & deposited them around the edge of the lawn. I also don't put gravel or grit sand in for drainage either, as I would have to negotiate the web of tree & hedge roots to dig even deeper (hence the choice of dwarf bulbs).

Although bulbs are mostly geotropic, turning & settling themselves to their preferred position in the ground, you will enjoy most success when the bulbs are planted 2-2.5 times their own depth, with the tips to the top & 'beards' (roots) to the bottom.

Crocus 'Ladykiller'
Erythronium tulumiensis
Fritillaria meleagris
Narcissus 'Minnow'
Narcissus 'Ice Wings'
Tulipa batalinii 'Honky Tonk'
Tulipa 'Little Star'
Tulipa clusiana 'Tinka'

Oh, and a bag of 30 bulbs that I found sprouting in the shed. I am hoping they were once intended for our garden or a client, and therefore must be a bulb I like. Or shallots...

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