Bulbs to light up a bleak midwinter L

ast week I wrote about preparing for spring with a selection of bulbs to whet your appetite.

This week I’m going to tell you how you can bring spring to your house in mid-winter with a bit of forward planning.

I’m referring to the practice of “forcing” bulbs to flower ahead of their time. By planting now and into October, you can have wonderful scented and colourful flowering displays indoors by Christmas.

They also make great Christmas gifts and you can save yourself a fair few quid by doing the preparation now, instead of buying them readymade in December.

First, you need to purchase some hyacinth bulbs – you are looking for “prepared” ones as these have already been subjected to a cold spell to trick them that they are half way through winter.

If you are choosing different varieties, don’t mix them up as they can flower at different times.

The packaging will give you approximate times for flowering so keep this info handy.

You’ll also need some bulb fibre or multi-purpose compost.

Bulb fibre contains some charcoal which keeps the compost sweet by absorbing gases and this is particularly useful if you are using bowls which have no drainage holes.

Next your container… here’s where you can be inventive and creative.

Simple terracotta pots are always lovely and can be jazzed up for Christmas by using gold or silver sprays or red ribbons. A lovely way to personalise a gift is to spray the recipient’s initial on the pot using a stencil.

There are plenty of household items that can be upcycled, and for this project Make the effort to prepare hyacinths now and they will make the perfect present to yourself when the cold nights arrive you can get away with items Over the next three weeks they will which don’t have drainage holes. So green up and flower, and be ready as before you chuck away that old kettle gifts or to be brought into the house. or teapot, could it be a quirky planter? It can be a good idea to stagger the

Ditto, old watering cans, biscuit or planting – so do some this weekend tea tins, jars, vases, bowls, tin cans, and another batch in a fortnight’s time wire containers (with moss), ovenware, so you’ll have plenty of fragrance to baskets, old tool boxes and any look forward to over the festive other vessels can all be sized up as season. possible containers for your bulb display. You can also plant them in special Car boot sales and charity shops hyacinth vases – little glass vases with are also great hunting grounds for a neck for the bulb to rest in. finding quirky, cheap and unusual You just keep the water topped up vases and pots. to below – but not touching – the bulb,

Now to work – wear gloves to and keep in a cool, dark place as protect your hands as hyacinth bulbs above. can cause skin irritation. Here’s a selection to look out for

Fill your pot with compost/bulb when you’re shopping: Amethyst and fibre, leaving a couple of inches for the Ostara for beautiful violet flowers, bulbs. Place these on top, close but Delft is the classic blue and Kronos a not touching, their noses pointing to very deep blue, Pink Pearl and White the sky. Pearl.

Now fill in gaps with more compost And they all smell fantastic! – you want the tips of the bulbs to be visible at the top, not buried.

Water in so it’s all moist – if you overdo the watering, just gently tip the pot to one side to drain off the excess. Place the pot in a cool (around 9C), dark place – a shed or garage is ideal – and drape a black polythene sack on top to exclude the light.

Depending on the variety, leave in situ for around six to eight weeks.

Check them periodically and water so they don’t dry out.

When about two inches of yellow growth is showing, bring the pots into the light – somewhere not too bright or hot. Be patient – if you whip them out of the garage too early you’ll get lots of leaves but not many flowers.