Colour in the garden

After a cold grey winter, we can hardly wait for those first green leaves and some colour in the garden. Flower bulbs provide us with the first colour in our ‘outdoor room’ and serve as harbingers of a sparkling spring. We usually plant flower bulbs in the garden or in plant containers. But why not think outside the box for once: what else could you use instead of a standard flower pot? After all, it’s fun to find a new use for things – and it saves money, too.

Giving old things a new use

Do you have things you’d like to throw away like a colander, an old bathtub, a big hat or a set of pitchers? Instead of getting rid of them, give them a new use as a flower pot. They could make the perfect place to plant flower bulbs. In addition to giving your garden an imaginative touch, this could also give it a vintage look.

Planting

But how, exactly, do you go about recycling items into flower pots? It only takes five easy steps to start enjoying a garden with a vintage look that you created yourself.

1. Put some pot shards, gravel or hydroponic clay pebbles in the bottom of the item you’re recycling. If the item doesn’t have a hole in it yet, be sure to make one so that excess water can escape.
2. Fill your creative plant container halfway with potting compost.
3. Plant the flower bulbs in the potting compost. For a brilliant result, plant lots of them closely together.
4. Add enough potting compost to fill the container three-quarters full and then firmly tamp down the surface.
5. Give the flower bulbs some water to get them off to a good start. Water encourages the flower bulbs to start rooting.

Tip

When you combine both early and late-flowering flower bulbs, you can enjoy an extra long flowering season.