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<p>Here is a guide to help you how to plant your spring bulbs.</p>

<p>The time to <strong>plant spring bulbs</strong> starts right now. There isn't much that beats the excitement of planting spring bulbs out in the garden and then seeing them emerge from the soil in springtime, ready to burst into colourful bloom just at the time of year when we need it the most. There are many to choose from with various shapes, colours, heights and textures, so there are definitely spring bulbs for every garden. They can be planted into the ground or in containers, so this is a guide to help you decide.&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Plan what you want to grow</h2>
<p>It is all in the planning. Firstly think about what type of bulbs you would like to grow and where you want them planted. Either cast your eye over your garden and be sure you know where they will go, or draw a plan on a piece of paper. Prepare your soil. Ensure it is well drained and has some well-rotted organic matter incorporated before planting. If you are planting in containers, fill them with good quality peat-free compost.&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Knowing the different types of bulbs</h2>
<p>Before you plant, know what type of bulb you are growing. There are wide varieties of Daffodils, Tulips, colourful and fragrant Hyacinths, Alliums, Crocus and more. Each will be of different sizes and must be planted at different depths depending on the type. Larger bulbs can be planted lower than smaller bulbs. Please read more about spring-flowering bulbs in our other blogs.</p>
<h2>When to plant spring bulbs&nbsp;</h2>
<p>All spring bulbs can be planted from early autumn onwards, so you have plenty of time. Tulips, however, can be grown all the way up to Christmas and are best left to October and November. Others ideally should be planted in September and October. Try not to plant out if the ground is very wet or frozen. If you don't have enough time and plant later in the year, we recommend planting them no matter what!</p>
<h2>How to plant spring bulbs&nbsp;</h2>
<p>Decide on where you're going to plant your bulbs. Pick a site that's&nbsp;large enough for your spring bulb. Snowdrops need smaller holes than Allium bulbs.</p>
<ul>
<li>Plant the bulb two to three times the depth of the bulb by making a hole big enough for the bulb (use a trowel or a bulb planted, even a dibber for smaller bulbs) with the pointed end facing upwards.</li>
<li>There is generally no need to water, especially if the soil is already moist, and they can be left to the elements over the winter.</li>
<li>If you are planting in containers, they shouldn't be left to dry out over long periods.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<p>Pick from our selection of spring bulbs and tools in store to create your spring garden.&nbsp;</p>

How to plant spring bulbs

<p>This&nbsp;<strong>autumn&nbsp;lawn care guide</strong> helps you keep your property healthy, green and lush during the autumn months.</p>

<p>This&nbsp;<strong>autumn&nbsp;lawn care guide</strong> helps you keep your property healthy, green and lush during the autumn months. Lawn care in autumn<strong>&nbsp;</strong>is as essential as any other time of the year, even more so before winter arrives. Autumn is an excellent time to get to work on your lawn and prepare it for the seasons ahead. There are many jobs to be done in the garden at this time of year, and lawn care is one of them. So even though the temperature has dropped, grab your coat and enjoy some of the brighter days of autumn and the cool, fresh autumnal air.&nbsp;</p>
<ol>
<li>Mowing</li>
<li>Scarifying</li>
<li>Sowing seed</li>
<li>Top dressing</li>
</ol>
<h2>1. Mowing</h2>
<p>Even though the weather starts to cool and the leaves will begin to change colour and fall to the ground, your lawn may still need to be mowed, especially if the days remain relatively warm and sunny. As the growth of your grass begins to slow down, you should raise the height of your mower blade to gradually allow the grass to grow longer, protecting it over the winter months. Raise the blade until you stop altogether.&nbsp;</p>
<h2>2. Scarifying and aerating&nbsp;</h2>
<p>Ensuring your lawn has good airflow is key to a thriving property. Scarifying will remove weeds and moss you don't want on the lawn, and aerating with a garden fork or specialised garden tool will ensure good airflow in the soil. Holes will be created in the ground. There are also weed and feed products that can be used to help the process and keep your lawn looking great for the following summer months.&nbsp;</p>
<h2>3. Sowing seeds</h2>
<p>If your lawn has some patchy areas, you can now sow some lawn seed or lay some turf. Before it gets too cold and when it isn't too hot in the summer, this time of year can be ideal for sowing and growing. Allowing time for the seed to settle and germinate and the turf to establish itself, you will also need less water due to higher rainfall during the autumn months. So you can save water and time compared to sowing in late spring or summer.&nbsp;</p>
<h2>4. Top dressing</h2>
<p>This is where you will lay lawn top dressing on the grass after you have aerated the lawn. You can buy pre-mixed top dressing or make your own from horticultural sand, loam and topsoil. Spread it evenly and rake over the yard. It doesn't need to be any deeper than 2cm, with the tips of the current grass showing through the top. You can seed your lawn onto the top dressing and water in.&nbsp;</p>
<p>For lawn care tools, seeds, top dressing and advice, visit us in store. Our staff is always happy to help you, whether it's to find the best tool, grass seed or any other lawn care problem in autumn.</p>

Autumn lawn care guide

<p>If you are wondering <strong>why autumn is the best time to plant new plants</strong>, we have the answers for you.</p>

<p>If you are wondering <strong>why autumn is the best time to plant new plants</strong>, we have the answers for you. The temperatures are&nbsp;cool, but before it gets too cold is one of the best times of year to get planting in the garden. As the leaves turn into the magical warm shades of autumn and bags of leaf mulch get collected to replenish the soil, it is a beautiful time to get outside in the garden. Even though the temperature has dropped, the sunny days of autumn are an ideal time to get outside and plant in the garden.</p>
<h2>Autumn is a pleasant time of year</h2>
<p>Autumn is simply a fantastic month. It isn’t too hot and not too cold either. There are still sunny days with blue skies, and even harvests from the kitchen garden, including cut flowers. The colours change, but there is still plenty of interest in going outside and enjoying the fresh air.</p>
<h2>The soil is still warm&nbsp;</h2>
<p>Even though the air may be cooler, the soil is still warm enough for planting. If the ground is too cold, this can stunt growth or even kill the plant, but autumn has warm soil, meaning it is the perfect time for planting. Planting includes bare root perennials, potted perennials, trees and shrubs, plus spring flowering bulbs.&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Less water is needed</h2>
<p>There will firstly be more rainfall, meaning you won’t have to get the watering can out so much, and planting during the colder months means fewer weeds competing with your new plants for water and nutrients. As the soil is still warm but not too hot and the weather isn’t too hot, your new plants won’t need so much water. In fact, some won’t need any at all.&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Plants got plenty of time to establish&nbsp;</h2>
<p>Planting in autumn allows the plants plenty of time to establish roots before it gets too hot and there are too many weeds. If you plant out at this time of year and use a good quality organic mulch around the base of the plant, this can help with not just water retention but also keep weeds at bay. Autumn&nbsp;is an all-round great month to enjoy the garden and settle in new plants, ready for the growing seasons ahead.&nbsp;</p>
<p>For autumn plants and tools, visit us in-store to prepare your garden for next year.&nbsp;</p>

Why autumn is the best time to plant new plants

<p>Here are our <strong>top 15 gardening tips for October</strong>.</p>

<p>As the trees turn rich shades of gold, red and orange, it’s time to harvest the last of your summer crops, prepare your garden for winter and start planning for spring. And to get you started, here are our <strong>top 15 gardening tips for October</strong>.</p>
<h2>October gardening tips</h2>
<ol>
<li>
<p>Cut back herbaceous perennials as they die back, but leave a few hollow flower stems standing to provide homes for overwintering insects.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Prune climbing roses and reduce shrub roses by half to protect them against damage from strong winter winds.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Lift and divide perennials like geraniums, salvias, daylilies and agapanthus. Tease clumps apart by hand or use two garden forks back-to-back to lever them apart. Cut woody roots with a knife or the sharp edge of a spade.&nbsp;</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Prune summer-fruiting raspberries, cutting all this year’s fruited canes to ground level and leaving the new canes, which will bear fruit next year.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Harvest the last of your French and runner beans, then cut the plants down to ground level, leaving the roots in the ground to release their stored nitrogen.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Pick green tomatoes and let them ripen indoors, placing them in a paper bag together with a banana to speed up the process. Check the bag regularly and remove any tomatoes which are going rotten.&nbsp;</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>October is an excellent time to plant new trees and shrubs while the soil is still warm from the summer, giving the roots time to settle in over winter, ready for next spring.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Sow hardy peas like ‘Avola’ outdoors and cover the ground with netting to stop mice from digging them up. A layer of prickly holly leaves over the seeds also provides good protection.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Plant spring bulbs like daffodils, irises and crocuses this month, but wait until November to plant tulips.&nbsp;</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Plant up pots with winter bedding like cyclamens and violas to give colour through the cold months.&nbsp;</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Aerate and scarify your lawn, and give it a low-nitrogen autumn feed. Now’s a good time to fix bare patches by sowing seed or laying turf.&nbsp;</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Lift dahlia, begonia and gladiolus bulbs in cold areas and store them somewhere dry over winter. In temperate regions, you may leave the bulbs in the ground and lay a thick mulch over them.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Move half-hardy plants into a frost-free spot like a greenhouse or a sunny windowsill indoors.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Raise pots on pot feet to prevent them from becoming waterlogged and frozen over winter.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Sweep up fallen leaves and collect them to make leaf mould. If you don’t have space for a leaf pile, put the leaves into black bin bags, make a few holes in the bags and put them somewhere out of sight. In a year or two, the leaves will break down into leaf mould, a fantastic soil conditioner.</p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>As you can see, October is a great month for gardening. Please ask our staff for advice, if needed. We have everything you need for your garden this autumn, so visit our centre soon and see what’s in store!</p>

15 garden tips for October

On the Blog

<p>Bulbs aren&#39;t just for spring: you can have flowering bulbs in your garden all year round with a little planning.&nbsp;In our garden centre we stock bulbs seasonally, so you&#39;ll find spring and summer bulbs on sale in autumn,&nbsp;and late-season bulbs on our shelves in %locations%&nbsp;from spring. Choose bulbs for every season to enjoy colour from&nbsp;January till December:</p>

<p><strong>Spring:</strong> bulbs are first on the scene with a splash of colour so don&#39;t stint on quantity: fill your garden with&nbsp;crocuses, daffodils, hyacinths and tulips from the fantastic range in our garden centre, and double your&nbsp;display by packing them into pots, too.</p>

<p><strong>Summer:</strong> it&#39;s the turn of the real showstoppers in summer, and in our garden centre you&#39;ll find brilliantly-coloured dahlias, flamboyant lilies, sophisticated bearded irises and easy-going pompom allium bulbs.</p>

<p><strong>Autumn:</strong> plant lipstick-pink nerines for a brilliant splash of colour in September: other autumn bulbs we stock&nbsp;include autumn-flowering crocus, exotic-looking Gladiolus murielae and brilliant yellow Sternbergia. B</p>

<p><strong>Winter:</strong> tiny pink Cyclamen coum nod among the earliest snowdrops, while winter aconites and tiny, delicate&nbsp;winter-flowering irises like Iris danfordiae provide a cheery December splash of yellow.</p>

<p>Please ask the staff in our %locations%&nbsp;garden centre for more information and advice about using bulbs in your garden.</p>

<p><em><b>*please be advised a variety of our products are seasonal. And can only be found at certain points of the year.</b></em></p>

Bulbs

<p>Once the last daffodil has died down, don't let your bulb display stop. Dozens of bulbs flower spectacularly right through summer, keeping you in dazzling flowers until well into autumn.</p>
<p>Plant as you would spring bulbs, burying them to three times their depth in crumbly, moisture-retentive

Bulbs for summer colour

 Clear away annual summer bedding, compost and dig over the ground to disturb weeds so they get hit by frosts, it also will help expose some soil borne diseases too to harsh weather and kill them off.  ;

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