Baytree Garden Centre’s tips on planting your tulips in time for spring

Want a dazzling display of tulips for spring? Baytree Garden Centre’s Mark Cox explains how it’s done...

Sunday mornings are my favourite. I can stretch out on the sofa, watch a Netflix series or two and chill out while number one teenage daughter sleeps soundly upstairs.

Well, that’s normally the case but teenage child decided this week to invite her best friend over for a sleep over. Personally I think they should change the name to ‘absolutely no-sleep over’ as I’m pretty sure they didn’t sleep a wink all night. Their giggling and laughter, which initially made me feel all warm and fuzzy at the thought that my daughter was having such a good time with her bestie, descended into loathing sometime around three in the morning. Unfortunately, I think they fell asleep about an hour before my unexpected Amazon delivery arrived. This turned out not to be for me but for the new couple who’d just moved in across the road.

Since I was now wide awake and ever-so-slightly wired I decided not to get dressed. My pyjamas and dressing gown were sufficient covering to preserve my modesty while out in the garden allowing me to work off some aggression. My anger therapy would take the form of tulip planting since the risk of Tulip Fire has diminished with it being November.

As a general rule of thumb, when planting tulips it is best to plant them at a depth of about three times the height of the bulb. Tulips like well-drained soil and will do well in a spot which gets either full sun or partial shade. Most spring flowering bulbs are perennials and will come back year after year, though that’s not quite the case for tulips. You may be lucky and get a couple of years out of them depending upon the variety.

For the effect that I’m going for this year I had purchased more tulips than I normally would and I’m sure it will be well worth the investment in the springtime. I tend to like more naturalised flower beds which look like they’ve never been touched by the hand of man or woman.

I really do suggest that you buy yourself a bulb planter as they make the job so much easier. Place the bulb planter in the spot you’d like the bulb to be planted, push and twist and the bulb planter then removes a perfect cylindrical soil plug to your desired depth. Pop your bulb back in the hole - remembering that it should be the pointy end up before placing said soil plug back into the hole covering the bulb.

Sadly, after a good 20-ish or so vigorously planted bulbs I could feel my energy levels waning, so I thought I’d just stop for a few moments to let my energy reserves recover.

When I finally awoke from what I thought was my five minute snooze, daughter number one and best friend Millie were standing over me with a very nice man and woman all dressed in green. I understand that it had only taken 15 minutes for the ambulance to arrive. Daughter number one was keen to stress to the ambulance crew that maybe it was time for me to go into a home since I was now over 50. Millie seemed to broadly agree.

Being a little dazed and confused the ambulance crew took that as a sign that I was indeed unwell, and a short ride later to the local home for those of advancing years I was allowed to enjoy a nice jelly and ice cream with complimentary word search. I feel I’m going to really fit in here.