Autumn soil preparation and planting tips for spring bulbs

The mantra is simple: you have to plan for the future. So if you want a bloom of colour in spring, now is the time to be thinking about your bulbs.

PATIENCE and planning ability are two of the greatest qualities a gardener can possess, especially when it come to bulbs.

With autumn upon us, now is the time to put these qualities to work in stage-managing a spring bulb spectacular.

Those who demand instant gratification need read no further, because this is all about planning for the future.

Yet those prepared to put in a little work now, to lay the foundations for a dream display, will reap a colourful bonanza come late winter and spring.

The good news is that spring bulbs demand minimal work once planted.

Born survivors, they boast natural nutrient and starch reserves that carry them through the chilliest winter days before they burst into magnificent flower.

In Victoria and Tasmania, we’re lucky because our winters supply just the right amount of chill to kickstart their blooming.

Once they have flowered, they replenish those reserves before slipping back into their underground slumbers to avoid the worst days of summer.

Soil-wise, all that’s needed for bulb growing success is reasonably nutritious ground that drains well and gets its share of sun.

A lot is circulated about how bulbs should be planted.

While it’s a good idea to follow the planting instructions that come with your bulbs, I find a good rule of thumb is to bury a bulb about twice or three times its width.

Do this and you won’t go far wrong.

Likewise, if you don’t know which way up a bulb should go into the ground, don’t fret.

Anemone and ranunculi are planted with their pointy ends facing down, while most others do best with pointy ends up.

Yet bulbs are super smart creatures and if placed on their sides can work out for themselves which way is up.

Aim to get your soil prepared by the end of this month for planting through to the end of May.

If your soil is a little suss, dig in a few spades of compost. If drainage is poor, raise beds with extra soil so excess water drains away. Or consider planting into pots or planters.

Of course, technically not all underground nutrient-storing plants we refer to as bulbs are bulbs at all.

Some are true bulbs, some corms, some rhizomes and some tubers.

But don’t get too precious in what you call these little wonders. Just plant and enjoy their eventual beauty.

For mine, drifts of daffodils and early blooming jonquils are hard to beat in the beauty department. They are the queen of bulbs.

THE DAFFODIL MAN

THESE days I can’t look at a striking drift of daffodils without thinking of a person who probably knew more about growing and hybridising them than anyone in Australia.

To keen gardeners around the Macedon Ranges where he lived and planted, he was known simply as The Daffodil Man.

A shy, retiring person with not a skerrick of interest in fame or financial reward, The Daffodil Man quietly roamed the ranges northwest of Melbourne, surreptitiously planting drifts of the amazing daffs he bred on the properties of agreeable others.

Few Australians knew him, yet specialist daffodil growers from around the world spoke in awe of his daffodil knowledge and achievements.

After years of being aware of this legendary man, I was lucky enough get to know him through mutual friends.

He rarely spoke of his daffodil fame, yet just once I forced the issue and asked of his passion for them.

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“I just love how they look,” he told me in his typically unassuming manner.

In February last year, The Daffodil Man, real name Fred Silcock, passed away with little fanfare.

Like him, I love the way these flowering bulbs look and will plant a few in his memory this autumn.

Why not join me. You won’t be disappointed.