Gardeners’ World: Monty Don advises how to plant daffodils and tulips in the colder months
MONTY DON unearthed his tips for planting daffodils and tulips in the run up to Christmas on Gardeners’ World.
Monty Don explains how to plant daffodils during the winter
Many people may not have the space of the inclination to grow cut flowers like daffodils or tulips, but those who do should give it a go, as it’s a “great way of bringing the garden indoors throughout the season”, according to Monty.
Daffodils can be grown as a cut flower, which means the bulbs can be planted much closer together than you would normally.
In principle, like all bulbs, daffodils prefer good drainage and somewhere not too dry, but they’re also pretty adaptable and not fussy about where they grow.
Monty added: “As long as they get good sunshine they’ll grow in most places.”
Gardeners' World: Monty Don reveals how to plant daffodils and tulips
Opt for Pheasant’s Eye daffodils if you’d like them to also come with a fragrance.
Tulips can be planted in exactly the same way, although October is slightly early for tulip planting.
If they’re planted after bonfire night and right through until Christmas, they’ll be decreased risk of tulip fire.
Tulip fire is a fungal disease of tulips, which produces brown spots and twisted, withered and distorted leaves.
Gardeners' World: Plant tulip and daffodil bulbs in a trough with gravel
The fungi is killed off by the cold however which means there’s much less risk of them being affected.
To plant daffodil and tulip bulbs, start by digging a trench, and then at the bottom of the trench add some grit.
By adding grit to the bottom it will ensure they’ll get good drainage.
The bulbs should then be planted directly on the grit - plant them close then you normally would.
Gardeners' World: Queen of Night tulips are a "dramatic flower"
Monty said: “Tulips are very late blooming, they won’t start flowering until early to mid may, but Queen of the Night tulips are a very dramatic flower.”
Queen of Night tulips are dark in colour, not quite black, but with “hints of plum”, according to Monty.
Once the bulbs have been planted the trench can then be backfilled.
On a previous episode of Gardener’s World, Monty revealed why the missing ingredient in your garden has nothing to do with plants.