Start With the Right Bulbs at the Right Moment

There is a particular pleasure in pressing a handful of brown, unpromising bulbs into damp October soil and knowing exactly what will happen in March. Spring bulbs are the best value in the garden: they cost pennies, ask for almost nothing and reward you for years. The most common reason for disappointment is timing. Order in late summer and get bulbs into the ground between September and November, while the soil is still warm enough for roots to form before the cold settles in.

Tulips are the exception. Planting them in November — even early December in a mild year — reduces the risk of tulip fire, a fungal problem that thrives in warm, damp autumn soil. Daffodils and crocus are happiest planted earlier, from September onwards. If bulbs arrive before you are ready, keep them cool, dark and dry, and never sealed in a plastic bag.

Pick a Team That Flowers in Turn

A long display is a relay, not a single race. Choose varieties that hand over to one another across four or five months.

• Crocus (February to March) — the earliest cheer, small corms that look best in generous drifts rather than tidy lines.
• Snowdrops and winter aconites (January to February) — for the impatient, and easiest planted in the green in spring.
• Daffodils and narcissi (March to April) — from tiny cyclamineus types to tall trumpets, all reliably perennial.
• Tulips (April to May) — the grand finale, in every colour except true blue.
• Alliums (May to June) — late arrivals that carry the show on as the tulip foliage yellows.

Layering a Pot for Months of Colour

The lasagne method — layering bulbs in a single container — gives you crocus, daffodils and tulips from the same pot, one group following another. Use a deep pot, at least 30cm across and 30cm deep, with drainage holes. A shallow bowl will not hold enough compost to insulate bulbs from a hard frost.

Start with broken crocks or gravel over the holes, then add peat-free compost mixed with a couple of handfuls of grit. Place the largest bulbs — tulips — with their bases about 20cm below the rim, pointed end up. Cover with 5cm of compost. Add daffodils, another 5cm of compost, then crocus on top, sitting roughly 8cm below the rim. Finish with compost, leaving a 2cm gap for watering. Space bulbs so they are almost touching, but not pressed against each other or the pot wall.

Depth and Spacing: The Two Numbers That Matter

As a rule, plant a bulb at two to three times its own depth. In practice that means:

• Crocus: 5–8cm deep, 5–8cm apart
• Daffodils: 10–15cm deep, 10–15cm apart
• Tulips: 15–20cm deep, 10–15cm apart
• Small bulbs such as snowdrops and muscari: 8–10cm deep and apart

Planting a little deeper than feels comfortable is usually right, especially in light sandy soil, which dries and warms quickly and can heave shallow bulbs out of the ground in a hard frost. In heavy clay, plant slightly shallower and always put a pinch of grit beneath each bulb so it never sits in a puddle.

Borders, Grass and Naturalising

In a border, dig a generous trench rather than individual holes; it is far quicker and lets you plant in drifts. Drop bulbs in, spacing them irregularly for a natural look, then backfill and firm gently with your hands.

For grass, choose bulbs that reliably return: crocus, snowdrops, snake's head fritillary and the smaller narcissi. Lift a flap of turf, tuck the bulbs underneath, press the turf back and water well. Do not mow that patch until the leaves have yellowed and collapsed, roughly six weeks after flowering.

Squirrels are the biggest threat to freshly planted pots and borders. Lay chicken wire or mesh over the surface, or plant through a sheet of it, and mulch with gravel. Chilli powder and garlic sprays work for some gardeners and not others; a physical barrier always works.

Keeping the Display Going Year After Year

Deadhead as flowers fade so the plant puts its energy into the bulb rather than into seed, but leave the foliage until it dies back naturally. Feed with a liquid tomato feed every fortnight while leaves are still green — the potassium helps next year's bulb swell.

In pots, keep compost just moist through winter and move containers somewhere sheltered from the worst of the wet, but do leave them outside; bulbs need cold to break dormancy properly. Tulips are best treated as annuals in containers. In borders they often perform well for two or three years before declining, so plan to top up your stock each autumn.

Finally, mark where you planted. Nothing is more dispiriting than driving a fork through a promising clump of daffodils in September — or, worse, standing in the garden in March wondering where on earth they went.