Gardeners urged to apply feed to two flowers now for huge display next year

Spring has well and truly sprung, which means all over the country, gardens are bursting into life.

Now that the threat of frost has - mostly - passed, gardeners will be opening up their greenhouses and starting to plant out the produce they want to have the most impact in their flower beds this year.

But while May is set to be a busy month thanks to weeds going mad and all the planting you'll need to start doing. While you're packing out your flower beds, mowing the lawn and tidying up the borders, spare a thought for the spring bulbs that have already flowered and are now resting for the rest of the year.

There's one very quick job you can do to make sure your garden comes back to life as quickly as possible next spring, and that is adding liquid feed to spring bulbs.

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Tulips, daffodils and any other early-flowering bulb that peeps up just as winter turns to spring will benefit from being drenched in liquid feed.

"To promote good flowering next year, feed the bulbs every seven to ten days with a high-potassium fertiliser such as a liquid tomato feed," recommends the RHS.

"Begin feeding as soon as shoots appear, and stop feeding once the foliage starts to die down at the end of the season."

To encourage better growth and more blooms next year, dig up your bluebells once flowering is over but they are still in leaf. Divide them when they're still 'in the green' to multiply your flowers next spring - and you can do the same with winter aconites and snowdrops.

With dried bulbs, you'll have to wait until later in the year to plant them. Spring-flowering bulbs including daffs, crocus and hyacinths, should be in the ground by the end of September.

Tulips can be planted in November and hardy summer-flowering bulbs, like lilies, alliums and crocosmia, should be planted in September and October, says the RHS.

But what if you've missed the right season to plant your bulbs? "The best thing to do is get them in the ground or potted up as soon as you can," the RHS says. "If you leave them until the autumn or correct time, they'll simply have deteriorated further."

The organisation encourages gardeners to discard any soft or rotten bulbs, but plant out the rest - even if they've started to sprout.

"Some bulbs store longer than others (tulip compared to daffodil, for instance) so it will be a bit hit and miss. If you are relying on a display maybe top up with potted bulbs from the garden centre," it adds.

Sometimes bulbs don't perform well in their first year in the soil, especially those with short flower stalks, but if they're from a perennial plant they should come back better in the years to come.

Do you have any top tips for planting out bulbs? Let us know in the comments below.

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