When to plant bulbs UK

When to plant bulbs UK

Bulbs can make a garden look stunning, plant them at the correct times and you could have a fantastic display in the garden impressing family and friends as they come around to the house. Here we will go through when to plant bulbs UK

You can get Spring flowering bulbs for the garden, these consist of daffodils, tulips, hyacinths, snowdrops, crocuses plus many more. You can also get summer flowering bulbs for the garden these are gladioli, lilies, begonias and many others.

With flowers that grow from bulbs, you can either cut these and have them in a vase or you can leave them attached to the bulb in the soil. The bulb will not grow another flower that year if you do cut them off for a vase though. They will last longer if they are in the garden.


Allotment and Kitchen Garden Book

Are you starting an allotment or planning on growing your own fruit, vegetables, herbs, and flowers in a kitchen garden? If so we highly recommend the book Allotment Month By Month. This does exactly what it does on the cover to help you with what you should be doing in the allotment and kitchen garden each month. Below you can see the link for Amazon where you can purchase the book directly. This book is extremely popular with all allotment holders as you will read in the reviews:-

You can check out all the allotment and kitchen garden books we recommend here.


When to plant spring bulbs in the garden

Spring bulbs are important to any garden and every garden should have some. The reason for this is that they are the first flowers that are available to the bees for pollen when they wake up from there winter hibernation. Spring flowers can add a lot of colour to a bland garden in spring as most plants will not be flowering and it will all just be mainly green.

The time you want to be thinking about planting your spring bulbs from daffodils, tulips, snowdrops and the rest is in September through to December. Ideally, you want to get them in before the first frost. The reason why your spring bulbs need to be planted before the first frost is that they need to start growing those roots and waking up from being dormant.

When to plant summer bulbs in the garden

Summer bulbs are great to have in the garden. They can add beautiful colour, nice fragrances and what’s better they can come every year. Summer bulbs include dahlias, gladiolas and lilies.

The right time to be planting your summer bulbs is in February through to April. These can be started in pots first then when the frost has passed these can then be planted outdoors. Don’t plant them outdoors too early when there is a chance of frost as this can damage the bulbs. IF you are planting them up in pots keep them in a greenhouse or polytunnel until the frost has passed.

Choosing the right bulbs

When you are out shopping for bulbs you need to check that they are in a good condition, you won’t know if they will actually grow but you can purchase the best-looking bulbs. These checks which you can do will help with the chances of getting great flowers.:-

  • –          Don’t buy bulbs that are damaged
  • –          Make sure they are not shrivelled
  • –          Make sure they are hard and not soft.
  • –          Do they look healthy and fresh?

Planting bulbs in pots

When you are planting bulbs in pots you need to stick to the same type of bulb in one pot i.e all daffodils in one tulip in the other. This is to get the best display possible. If you mix and match you risk flowers coming out at different times and different heights.

How to plant bulbs

Bulbs are extremely easy to plant in the garden. You can get your children or grandchildren involved in planting the bulbs in your garden. Kids will love doing this.

To plant bulbs in the ground all you need to do is choose some soil that is well-draining and won’t get too boggy. Choose an area that gets some sun and warmth, it does not want to be too shaded. When planting bulbs, you need to do this are around the depth of around 3 bulbs. Leave the space of around 3 bulbs between planting them. When planting, the bulbs make sure the tops are pointing up. You can usually tell which way is the top as it is slimmer and usually has a point, don’t plant them upside down. When you have planted, they place the soil back on top of them. The best way to plant a bulb is by using a bulb planter.

How to plant bulbs in pots

When you are planting bulbs in pots as you have not got space or any ground to plant them in you need to decide which bulbs are going in which pots. You should really stick to one type of bulb in each pot if you are planning on mixing them you need to remember some may flower at different times to others.

When you are planting the bulbs plant them towards the bottom of the pot this way you can plant other items in the tops of the pots when the bulbs have died back until the year after when they will come through again.

Make sure that the pot you are choosing to plant in has drainage holes in the bottom so they do not get waterlogged. If the pot does not have holes in it add some yourself to the pot by drilling them in.

Purchase Bulbs

Are you looking at purchasing bulbs for your gardens click the link below which will take you to Amazon where you can purchase bulbs directly.

We hope you have found this page useful and you can now know when to plant bulbs UK. You can find more tips and advice here.

Aubergine Plant – How to grow eggplant

Aubergine Plant – How to grow eggplant

Aubergines are becoming more and more popular to grow here in the UK. They are quite expensive to purchase so if you can grow your own aubergine plants fingers crossed you can save quite a bit of money. Here in the UK they are called aubergines but in other parts of the world, you will find them called egg plant.

To grow aubergine plants you will need somewhere warm to grow them ideally in a greenhouse or in a poly-tunnel where they will get the sun shining on them and the warmth from being indoors.


Allotment and Kitchen Garden Book

Are you starting an allotment or planning on growing your own fruit, vegetables, herbs, and flowers in a kitchen garden? If so we highly recommend the book Allotment Month By Month. This does exactly what it does on the cover to help you with what you should be doing in the allotment and kitchen garden each month. Below you can see the link for Amazon where you can purchase the book directly. This book is extremely popular with all allotment holders as you will read in the reviews:-

You can check out all the allotment and kitchen garden books we recommend here.


When to sow, plant and harvest Aubergines

Here you can find a guide on when to sow, plant and harvest Aubergines in the UK.

SowJanuary to April
PlantMay to June
HarvestJuly to September

How to sow Aubergines

When sowing aubergines you will need to sow the aubergine seeds somewhere warm. This is because you will be sowing them early in the year and the greenhouse temperature won’t be suitable this time of year. You will need a propagater to help start them off. The aubergine seeds need temperatures of around 20 degrees to germinate. If you still have a cupboard with your boiler in you can put your seed tray in there but you will need to remove them as soon as you see them popping through the soil.

The ideal time to sow your aubergine seeds will be in January time this gives the aubergine plant more time to produce those precious aubergines but you will need the added heat as mentioned above to get these to germinate.

If you struggle to start the aubergine seeds you can usually purchase a plant which has been started from garden center.

To sow aubergine seeds get a seed tray and fill it with compost. Sprinkle the aubergine seeds on the compost. Cover the seeds with another layer of compost then water it finely. You can cover the seed tray with a layer of cling film this will help keep the moisture in and also add that extra warmth that they need for germination.

How to grow your Aubergine plant

When growing your aubergine and before you pot them up for there final destination you need to have somewhere planned for them to grow. The best place to grow these are in a greenhouse or poly tunnel Even though the aubergine plant seeds are more acclimatized for the UK than they were 10 years ago they will still grow better indoors than outside.

When your seeds which you planted at the beginning of the year have outgrown the seed tray they can be transferred to pots that are at least 9cm big. Keep them looked after by watering on a regular basis. When the roots have outgrown the pots you can then transfer them to a pot which is 23cm in size.

You can plant them in the ground outdoors but ideally you should plant them indoors in pots of compost. If you are growing them outdoors plant them at around 60cm distance. Be careful if there is still frost around as the plants will not like this one bit.

Looking after your aubergine plant

To look after your aubergine plant you will need to stake these up and keep tying them up as they get bigger.

When the plant reaches around 35 cm in height you need to pinch the tops of your aubergine plant. This is so that it bushes out and focuses on growing those aubergines – Eggplant.

Aubergine plant require a lot of looking after, you need to make sure that you water them regular also feed them twice a week when the flowers appear. You can feed them with tomato feed. Also as well as feeding and watering them you will need to get a mister to mist them twice a day, this is to prevent spider mite and it also encourages the fruit to set on the flowers.

When you see that 5-6 flowers have set on your aubergine plant remove all the rest of the flowers and any new ones that appear. Let it concentrate on growing these until they are big enough to pick and eat.

How to Harvest Aubergines

Your aubergines will be ready to pick from the aubergine plant when they are around 15cm in size. Make sure they are still shiny when you harvest your aubergines.

Pests and Diseases

There are many pests which can affect aubergines, not necessarily diseases. Here we explain the pests that can affect them and how to prevent them.

Aphids:- You can often see aphids on the aubergine leaves the best way is to squish them with your finger and thumb.

Whitefly:- the best way to prevent these is to have some fly traps up in your polytunnel or greenhouse. These are usually sticky sheets.

Red Spiders:- These usually occur with humidity. These can be prevented by spraying or misting your plants down twice a day.

Purchase Aubergine Plant

Here you can purchase Aubergine Seeds to grow an Aubergine Plant. Click the Amazon link below which will take you to purchase some:-


You can find out lots more tips and advice on growing fruit and vegetables here

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