Planting Spring Bulbs for a Colourful Border

Why Autumn Is the Most Hopeful Job in the Garden

There is something quietly optimistic about planting bulbs. You kneel on damp soil in a coat, your fingers cold, trowel in hand, and you bury a promise. Nothing shows for months. Then, on some grey February morning, a green spear pushes through and the whole border lifts.

The window for planting is generous but not endless. In most of the UK, September to November is the sweet spot, with daffodils and crocus happier in the earlier half and tulips perfectly content into November. Bulbs need a spell of cold to trigger flowering, so resist the temptation to plant too early in a warm autumn, and never leave the job until the ground is frozen solid.

The real trick isn't just planting bulbs. It's layering them, so that one patch of ground delivers colour for three months rather than three weeks.

Choosing Your Bulbs for a Long Season

Think of the border as a slow parade. Crocus arrive first, often in late February, then daffodils carry you through March and April, and tulips take over in late April into May. Plant all three in the same space and you get a continuous show.

• Crocus — plant 5–8cm deep, roughly 5cm apart. Small, cheap and best planted in generous drifts rather than tidy rows. Try Crocus tommasinianus, which shrugs off squirrels better than most.
• Daffodils — 10–15cm deep, or about three times the height of the bulb. Choose a mix of early and late varieties so the display doesn't all arrive at once. Smaller types such as Thalia and Hawera stand up to wind better than the tall exhibition sorts.
• Tulips — 15–20cm deep, 10cm apart. Plant them last, in November, which reduces the risk of fungal problems. Species tulips are the most reliable for coming back year after year; the big frilly ones are best treated as annuals.

Buy bulbs that are firm and plump, like small onions. Anything soft, mouldy or hollow goes in the bin, not the ground. Cheap bulbs are rarely a bargain.

Layering Bulbs in a Border

The classic technique is sometimes called a bulb lasagne, and it works in open ground just as well as in pots. Dig out a section of border to about 20cm, fork the base to loosen it, and then work upwards through the layers.

Start with tulips at the bottom, at the full 20cm depth. Add a 5cm layer of soil back over them. Next, sit the daffodils at around 12cm, space them a hand's width apart, then cover again. Finally, scatter crocus across the top at 6cm and finish with soil.

A few practical points make all the difference:

• Improve the soil first. Fork in a couple of handfuls of garden compost per square metre and add grit if your soil is heavy clay. Bulbs rot in waterlogged ground, and that is the single most common reason for failure.
• Add a slow-release feed. A handful of bulb fertiliser or bone meal worked into the base of the planting hole pays you back in stronger stems and better flowers next year.
• Mark the spot. A short cane or a scatter of sand saves you skewering the whole lot with a fork in March.
• Water once, then forget. A good soak after planting settles the soil. After that, autumn rain does the work.

If you're planting into grass, only do it at the edge where you can let the foliage die back naturally. Cut grass too early and you lose next year's flowers.

The Same Trick in Pots

Containers give you the layering effect on a small scale, and you can place them right by the front door where you'll see every stage of the show.

Choose a pot at least 30cm across and deep, with drainage holes. Put crocks or broken polystyrene in the base, then fill a third with multi-purpose compost mixed with grit. Plant tulips first, cover, then daffodils, cover, then crocus near the surface. Leave a 2cm gap below the rim for watering.

The golden rule with pots is drainage and protection from waterlogging over winter. Raise them onto pot feet so they never sit in a puddle, and move them somewhere sheltered from the worst of the wind. Squirrels, mice and even the odd determined magpie will dig bulbs out, so lay a sheet of chicken wire over the compost and pin it down until the shoots appear. Once growth starts, remove it.

Getting Through Winter and Looking After What Comes

Then comes the waiting. Check pots after heavy rain and tip out any saucers that have filled. In a hard frost, the compost in a small pot can freeze solid, so group pots together against a wall for mutual shelter.

When the flowers finally arrive, deadhead them but never cut the leaves. Daffodil and tulip foliage needs around six weeks in the light to feed the bulb for next spring. It looks scruffy, so plant them behind hardy geraniums or ferns that will grow up and hide the yellowing leaves. Once the foliage pulls away easily in your hand, it's finished with.

After that, leave the bulbs in place and let them do it all again. With a little grit in the soil, a feed in early spring and a bit of patience through the wet months, that same patch of border will give you crocus in February, daffodils through spring, and tulips to carry you into summer — year after year, for the price of a few hours on a damp October afternoon.