I finally got round to planting up my Spring bulb container this past weekend. Infact it was actually pretty good timing as we also had our first heavy frost of the year on Friday, which means any nasties in the soil will be killed off and the bulbs we be less likely to get diseases such as tulip fire which thrives in warm, damp soil. Don’t worry if you still haven’t planted your bulbs either, they can be planted as late as January so don’t panic.
This year I’ve opted for a container and I used one of our large vintage galvanised tubs to create the display in. Always make sure there are drainage holes in the bottom of any containers to allow the water to pass through, bulbs hate sitting in waterlogged soil! The aim is to plant up my purple and white themed Spring bulbs and then place the container in front of the shed. Seeing as I’m not allowed to paint the temporary shed purple I’ll have to make do with a beautiful floral display instead to get my purple fix.
The tulips went in first and I planted them at a depth of 8 inches with roughly 2 inches between each bulb. This layer consists of 20 Purple lady, 10 Lilac perfection and 10 Wyndham tulips. I’ve grown ‘Purple lady’ before and it’s always been a beautiful variety. It feels a little strange not to be growing my all time favourite tulip ‘La Belle Epoque’ but I think both the ‘Lilac Perfection’ and ‘Wyndham’ will be strong contenders this year.
After covering the tulip bulbs with 2 inches of compost it was time for the Daffodil bulbs which were planted 6 inches deep with around 3 inches between each bulb. The varieties include 20 Thalia and 10 Bridal Crown. Unfortunately they didn’t have my favourite ‘Sir Winston Churchill’ in stock so I had to make do with Bridal Crown. Although I am still excited to see how they turn out! Thalia are always a must have as I just adore the delicate white multi-headed blooms and I think they’ll look beautiful against the purple tulips.
That’s all for my Spring bulb display this year I’m afraid, but I am so excited to see them bloom! Apart from a few Minnow which I purchased to fill some smaller vintage containers for indoors. I feel like I was very refined when placing my order with Farmer Gracy… Although one year I’ll finally have built my cut flower raised bed and then they’ll be no stopping me on the Spring bulb front!
We also planted 50 ‘Purple Sensation’ allium bulbs into the long herbacous border at the weekend and I also have 200 crocus that need to be planted into the orchard around the fruit trees. First I need to kick the chickens out of that area otherwise they’ll just dig them up!
