The planting season

OK, this year you’re actually going to do it. Hip, hip, hooray! But when exactly should you plant your flower bulbs? Don’t worry: before you go on a flower bulb planting rampage, you should know that these garden jewels can be planted from September to the end of December. Just be sure to plant them before the ground freezes. Fortunately, the period for planting flower bulbs is plenty long enough.

Choosing

Once flower bulbs are on your to-do list, it’s time to select them from the huge number of varieties available. The most familiar and popular flower bulbs are the tulips (Tulipa). Other garden favourites are daffodils (Narcissus), hyacinths (Hyacinthus) and crocuses (Crocus). But are you also familiar with snowdrops (Galanthus), crown imperials (Fritillaria imperialis) and glory-of-the-snow (Chionodoxa)? The entire assortment can be seen here.

Just plant them!

Now you’ve acquired your flower bulbs and you know where you want to plant them. But how exactly? Fortunately, it isn’t difficult. Just five steps are all it takes.

Step 1

Dig one hole for a group of flower bulbs or make individual holes for planting several single flower bulbs. The size of the flower bulb determines how deep it should be planted. Large flower bulbs (5 cm or larger in diameter) should be planted 15 cm deep and small flower bulbs (2.5 – 5 cm) 7 to 10 cm deep.

Step 2

Remove weeds and small stones and then work some garden mould into the soil to improve drainage.

Step 3

Place the flower bulbs gently into the soil with the point on top. Be careful not to press down too hard on the flower bulb, because this could damage it. Large flower bulbs should be planted 7 to 20 cm apart and small bulbs 3 to 7 cm apart.

Step 4

Cover the flower bulbs with the soil dug from the hole.

Step 5

If the soil is dry, give the flower bulbs some water.