James Ashworth
Why Autumn Planting Earns Its Keep
There is a particular sort of optimism in planting bulbs on a grey October afternoon. The border looks tired, the dahlias are blackened, and yet you are quietly burying next spring in the soil. Get it right now, and from late January onwards the garden will reward you with colour when almost nothing else is doing anything at all. Get it wrong — or simply leave it until December — and you will be buying pots of forced daffodils from the supermarket instead.
The general rule for timing is simple enough. Daffodils, crocus, snowdrops and most small bulbs want to be in the ground from late September to early November, while the soil is still warm enough for roots to form. Tulips are the exception: plant them in November or even early December, as bulbs sitting in cold, wet ground too early are more prone to rotting and to the fungal disease tulip fire. If you garden on heavy clay, fork in plenty of grit and well-rotted compost before you start, and never let bulbs sit in a waterlogged hollow.
Daffodils: The Backbone of the Spring Border
If you plant nothing else, plant daffodils. They are inexpensive, they shrug off bad weather, and most will happily come back year after year, multiplying into generous clumps. The smaller varieties naturalise best in grass and at the front of a border, where their finer foliage does not swamp their neighbours.
- Narcissus 'Tête-à-Tête' — a compact, multi-headed yellow that is superb in pots and at path edges.
- Narcissus 'Thalia' — creamy white, slightly scented, and wonderfully long-lived.
- Narcissus 'Actaea' — white petals with a small red-rimmed cup, later to flower and excellent in grass.
- Narcissus 'February Gold' — as the name suggests, one of the earliest, with swept-back petals.
Plant them three times their own depth — roughly 10–15cm for standard daffodils — and space them about 10cm apart. In grass, scatter a handful and plant them where they land; that random distribution looks far more natural than a tidy row.
Tulips: Treat Them Well, or Treat Them as Annuals
Tulips are the divas of the spring garden. They give the most saturated colour of any bulb, they look magnificent in pots, and they are much less reliable about returning than daffodils. In heavy, wet soil they often sulk and vanish after a season. The honest approach for most cottage gardeners is to treat bedding tulips as annuals, lifting and composting them once the foliage has died, and to invest in species tulips where you want permanence.
- Tulipa sprengeri — a small, deep red species that seeds about and naturalises beautifully in grass.
- Tulipa turkestanica — starry white flowers with yellow centres on slender stems, ideal for a gravel edge.
- 'Ballerina' — lily-flowered, glowing orange, and sweetly scented.
- 'Purissima' — a soft ivory-white that looks lovely against dark foliage.
Plant tulips 15–20cm deep, deeper than you might expect, which helps anchor them against wind and puts them out of reach of most pests.
Snowdrops and the Small Early Risers
Snowdrops are best planted in the green — that is, as lifted plants with foliage still attached — in February or March, rather than as dry bulbs in autumn. Dry snowdrop bulbs are notoriously unwilling to establish. If you must buy bulbs, soak them overnight and plant them immediately at about 8cm deep.
Alongside them, tuck in crocus for the earliest colour, winter aconite for pools of butter-yellow beneath deciduous shrubs, and muscari for blue in April. Push them in wherever there is a gap: under hedges, at the base of a wall, along the edge of a lawn.
Layering Bulbs in Pots and Borders
Container planting is where you can be really clever. Use a deep pot with plenty of drainage — crocks or broken polystyrene in the base — and build in layers, largest and latest-flowering bulbs at the bottom.
- Bottom layer: tulips, 20cm deep, spaced 5cm apart.
- Middle layer: daffodils or hyacinths, covered with 5cm of compost.
- Top layer: crocus, muscari or snowdrops, just below the surface.
Water once, then leave the pots somewhere cool and sheltered. Start watering properly once shoots appear. In borders, plant in drifts rather than single lines — odd numbers, in loose groups of seven or nine, always look more natural.
Looking After the Foliage, and the Wildlife
The single greatest mistake is cutting back foliage too soon. Those leaves are feeding next year's bulb. Leave them for at least six weeks after flowering, until they have yellowed and collapsed, and deadhead the flowers so energy goes into the bulb rather than seed. A light dressing of general-purpose fertiliser as the shoots emerge helps them along.
Squirrels and mice will dig up freshly planted bulbs, so press the soil firmly, water it in, and lay a sheet of chicken wire just below the surface if the damage is bad. Daffodil bulbs are poisonous and are generally left alone, which is another reason to make them the mainstay of your planting. Do it well this autumn and you will have a garden that starts giving back in February, long before you have had a chance to think about the rest of the year.
