A gardener’s fancy turns to spring

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Written by Administrator

Wednesday, 05 September 2007

In the spring, they say, a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love. Whereas in autumn a gardener’s fancy turns to spring. No sooner has autumn set in than we gardeners begin to think of spring and spring bulb planting. So, get ready, there is about to be an invasion within your local garden centre, as a vast selection of bulbs for planting now and blooming in spring are about to descend upon us.

The following is just a small selection those available: Allium (flowering garlic), Anemone (wind flower), Crocus, Cyclamen, Galanthus (Snowdrop), Hyacinth, Iris, Narcissus (daffodil), Scillia (bluebell), Tulip…I could go on, but I think you should pay a visit to the garden centre and have a look for yourself.

Now, choosing the right bulbs involves more than just selecting colours and flowers you like. Bulb size and, more importantly, bulb health are equally significant factors in selecting your spring garden bulbs. I suggest you carry out my personal NCT for bulbs before you go ahead and plant. Let’s call it the NBT: the national bulb test.

1.    Healthy bulbs should be firm and heavy for their size. They should not feel overly dry or light. Certain bulbs (daffodils etc) will have loose and peeling skin. This is normal and nothing to worry about.

2.    Where bulbs are concerned, the saying ‘bigger is better’ holds some truth, as big bulbs usually mean a large amount of stored food to produce brilliant blooms the following season. Smaller, bargain bulbs may take two years to produce blooms good enough for your garden.

3.    The colour of the bulbs skin should be uniform with no dark or light patches. Any bulbs with weak or spongy areas should not be planted. This is often a tell tale sign of rot.

If the bulbs you select appear to tick all the above boxes, you are well on your way to a colourful return from this season’s bulb planting. Weather permitting, you should try to plant your bulbs quite soon upon arriving home from the garden centre, due the sad fact that bulbs continually deteriorate whilst they are out of the soil.

If you cannot plant them right away, store them in a cool place, such as your garden shed or garage. Never store them in closed bags as they might rot. Bulbs need to breathe; this is why you will see garden centre displaying bulbs in perforated or net bags.

Next week I will detail how to plant your spring bulbs, but before I go let me introduce you to a daffodil variety that I believe will cheer up your upcoming spring garden. Please consider planting the King Alfred daffodil (Narcissus ‘King Alfred’).

This is the traditional strong yellow daffodil that everyone thinks of when they hear mention of ‘a host of golden daffodils’. You can keep your daffs with two tone colouration, frilled petals, double flowers etc, as to my mind old Narcissus ‘King Alfred’ beats them all, hands down.

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