It never ends for gardeners does it? Alan Titchmarsh says you need to get planting now if you want the bright colour sof tulips, alliums or hyacinths in your garden next spring
If you want to see a majestic display of tulips blooming in your garden next spring you need to plant your bulbs before Christmas, according to gardening expert Alan Titchmarsh.
“I make no apology for saying that tulips are my favourite spring flowering bulbs,” he says on his Gardening with Alan Titchmarsh YouTube channel. “They come in a wide range of colours and they look good in any garden.”
But, he adds, while tulips can be planted “quite late,” you only have about four weeks left if you want to see them flower by Easter: “Try and get them in before Christmas and then you’ll enjoy a really good display in April and May,” he says.
He adds that while you can buy bags of single-colour tulip bulbs from your garden centre or online retailer, “if it’s beauty on a budget you’re after,” you can pick up ready-mixed assortments of bulbs too.
Alan says tulips will thrive in a container, and part of the trick to ensuring an impressive spring chowing is picking the right container for the job.
In Alan’s case, he’s mixing purple and white varieties in a square, modern-looking box container: “You need slightly less white than you’ve got purple because white stands out more,” he points out.
It’s worth considering that factor whichever colours you pick. Lighter colours will inevitably catch the eye first.
Spacing is less critical than you might think, Alan adds: “You need not worry about the distance between them …
“They’re going to be much closer than this when I’ve got them all in. Don’t worry about it. They will grow.”
Spacing of anything between two and six inches should be fine, with the bulbs planted around six inches down with their “pointy ends” upwards in fresh peat-free multipurpose compost. Don’t be tempted to reuse compost that you have used for tulips, in terms of past, because of the the risk of disease or fungus.
To improve drainage and reduce the risk of bulb rot you should consider mixing in one part grit or coarse sand to every three parts compost.
A top layer of grit can help stop hungry squirrels from digging up the bulbs and layer of sharp sand at the bottom of the pot can also help drainage.
Try to match your tulip variety to where they’ll be placed in your garden: “If they’re in an exposed spot,” warns Alan, “they can get blown over a bit. So, the shorter varieties are really quite good there.”
For those of you that aren’t entirely keen on tulips, Alan has a couple of alternatives to offer. He’s also got some Alliums that “come up happily year after year with flowers like fireworks on the top of a drumstick stem.”
Ideally, your Alliums should go in before the end of November, but you can get away with planting in December if the weather’s on yourself. However, , the earlier you plant, the better.
Another alternative, Alan says, is Hyacinths. While, again, you’re best off getting spring blooms in the ground before etch end of November, you can always get them stared indoors.
Forcing indoor winter blooms requires planting prepared bulbs in pots in late summer or early autumn and keeping them in a cool, dark place for 10-14 weeks to develop.
The added benefit of raising your hyacinths indoors, Alan adds, is that they will perfume your house beautifully: “The lovely thing about hyacinths,” Alan says, “is apart from their early flowering capability, they also have the most glorious scent.”
