3rd September, 2021

Hey Hey September, where did you spring from?!

My favourite time of the year is here with its glorious colour; I do hope it’s going to be filled with late sunshine and misty mornings.

September is a great time to look at the garden and see what needs changing for next year. Make some notes, take some photographs to remind you of jobs for winter and generally conjure up a plan of action.

It’s a good time to assess what’s done well and what has tested your patience!

Also use September to plan for spring bulb planting; think about variations of colour, flowering times, height and size, what would you like to see come spring?

This year I’m going to fill a lot of my big pots and new raised beds using the layering method of bulb planting, so I’ll have colour from February to late April/early May.

First I’ll prepare the pots with drainage and compost, bulbs prefer free draining soil so I’ll mix some horticultural grit and leaf mould to the soil. I’ll add a good layer into the bottom of each pot before I start planting.

For the raised beds I’ll start with a layer of Alliums, in the containers I’ll miss this layer out because they just aren’t big enough! After covering them with compost, I’ll add tulips, cover with compost, Daffodils (always white!), cover with compost then dwarf iris, cover with compost and snowdrops with grape hyacinths, finishing off with a layer of compost.

You can break rules! Because you will remove the bulbs once they have flowered you can pack them in, plant more closely than your would in the garden. You want your container to be a super glorious!

All bulb packets come with planting depths in the instructions, so just look and see what order your own choices should be planted. And don’t worry they will all grow through each other, it’s a really great way to get the most out of your pots!

And if you want it to look good now, add some Viola to the top! Water it in, and keep the Viola watered until the first frosts appear.

My smaller pots I’ll fill with one variety of bulb, I’ll match the size of pot to the size of flower and place these around the garden once the weather improves, during winter I’ll place them somewhere sheltered out of the worst of the frosts.

So have a go, plan your 2022 garden and plan some spring sunshine!

Keep up with my latest shenanigans!

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