We have relied upon plants for food, medicine and their beauty since our time on this planet began. The plants in our gardens have many stories to tell about our history. Among the first flowers to appear in spring are bulbs like the daffodil and crocus. In summer, tall spikes of gladioli and varied forms of dahlias make a vibrant cut flowers. In autumn, we plant more bulbs in anticipation of next year’s blooms. Let’s find out what bulbs are and how we can grow the most stunning floral displays out of them!

What are bulbs?

Bulb is a catch-all name for a group of flowering plants which have underground food-storage organs. These organs help the plant to survive through drought or cold. This group of bulbous plants includes: True bulbs, including daffodils, are mostly layered (like an onion) with a papery outer skin.

Tubers, including dahlias, have swollen stems or roots which are irregularly shaped.

Corms,including crocus, often look like true bulbs from the outside but when you cut them in half they are solid rather than layered.

Rhizomes, including ginger, are mostly swollen, horizontal underground stems.

Where to grow?

Most bulbs like a sunny location and a free-draining soil. They like to be lightly moist in summer, and not too wet in winter. You can grow them in sunny flower borders, pots and planters, and some, like crocus, will even grow in your lawn. Some don’t mind a little shade, like snowdrops and daffodils, and will grow under trees or around shrubs.

When to grow?

You plant bulbs when they are dormant. Spring flowering bulbs are best planted in early autumn. Tender summer-flowering bulbs, like gladioli, are planted in spring

Bulb Planting

Learn how to plant your bulbs properly, in four steps.

1) Choose

Consider which bulbs will best suit your planting position in the garden or the size of your container. Have fun too – pick flowers and colours you like!

2) Prepare

PLANTING IN THE GROUND
If you have a free-draining soil, use a bulb planter or trowel to dig holes for planting your bulbs in. If your soil is a heavy clay, dig in lots of compost or other organic matter, like leaf mould, to help aid drainage.

PLANTING IN POTS
Fill your pot with compost that best suits your bulb choice. Usually bulbs like a well-draining compost – a mix of peat-free multi-purpose compost and grit is a good start

3) Plant

• Plant your bulb at a depth of two to three times its length.

• Space the bulbs twice their width apart.

• Plant your bulb with the pointy end upwards.

Check the bulb’s packaging for specific planting details. If planting in pots, you can grow different types in one pot by layering them, placing deep planting bulbs, like tulips, in the bottom layer and working up.

4) Grow

In the growing season, feed and water your bulbs. Use a high-potassium feed (such as a tomato fertiliser) to encourage growth. Remove dead flowers

This blog is adapted from a bulb history activity created for The Hidden Gardens by writer and gardener Lynne Maclagan (former volunteer and garden assistant with The Hidden Gardens), and the artwork is by Alan Lyons.

Last month, Hyphen Magazine, a new online outlet focusing on issues important to Muslims across the UK and Europe, visited the Hidden Gardens and interviewed our dedicated volunteer and member of staff, Saubia, and our chief executive Amanda. You can read their full interview here.

The Hidden Gardens, also in Pollokshields, is one of Glasgow’s longest-established community spaces. Set up in 2003 and funded by a mixture of public donations and charity grants, it welcomes thousands of visitors per year. What was once the site of a tram depot is now a tranquil garden, full of flowers, trees and lawns. A newer building on the site also provides space for classes and events.

Saubia Safdar got involved with the Hidden Gardens in 2012 through community cooking classes. She brought recipes from her native Pakistan to share with 12 other women, and learned how to make an array of dishes from elsewhere in return. Now she proudly uses recipes from Spain, Poland, Italy and Bangladesh at home. 

Safdar also works for the project, two days a week, as a cleaner, regularly attends classes and visits the garden on her days off. “The Garden helps a lot of people. It changed a lot of people’s lives. It changed mine, definitely,” she said.

Safdar is full of praise for the organisation, which she credits with boosting her confidence and allowing her to make friends from around the world. “When I first arrived in Glasgow, I had kids and didn’t really do anything. I was a mum, at home. Then, when my kids were in primary school, I thought, I need to do something, they’re growing up now.’ I started volunteering at different places and didn’t find one that was nice and friendly. When I came here, it was different,” she said.

“Most people, when they come to the UK, stay within their community. They are afraid to meet other people. One of the main problems is language. Places like here encourage people to integrate, especially the classes, the gardening group, the cookery. The environment is so good and friendly. Within a few days you are like, ‘OK, it’s fine, they are like us.’ Nobody laughs at you, nobody makes fun of you, people don’t make you feel you are less than them. They give you respect. That’s all you need.”

Amanda Patterson, chief executive of the Hidden Gardens, explained that a special effort was made to engage with locals from the outset. Over a period of 18 months, the charity spent time talking with and listening to the community about what they wanted from the space and what was missing in Pollokshields. 

“What was overwhelmingly coming back from the community was that green spaces didn’t feel safe, particularly for Muslim women,” she said. 

Concerns about racism when out in public, the need for women-only spaces and a lack of diverse voices in decision-making about public spaces were common. At design stage, it was decided that a fence would be placed around the Hidden Gardens and a decision was made to ensure that the space would be staffed at all times. Alcohol, smoking and pets are not allowed on the premises. 

“It makes sure that it’s a clean space and that it’s neutral for anyone to use,” Patterson said. 

The approach has worked. In addition to visitors, around 30 people volunteer on a regular basis to maintain the garden. Many are people seeking asylum in the UK and a significant number come to practise their English. Around 100 more locals help out as and when needed.

We asked our Head Gardener Paula to explain why the leaves turn yellow and red in Autumn. Here’s what she said:

‘October brings changes to the garden as deciduous plants respond to the cooler temperatures and shorter days and prepare for leaf fall. The fabulous autumn colours occur as the balance of pigments within the leaves alters. Green chlorophyll is predominant through Spring and Summer helping with the process of photosynthesis, producing sugars to feed the plant, but as the days cool the production of chlorophyll slows and other pigments start to appear.

Carotenoids protect the leaves from sun damage and once chlorophyll is reduced they display the striking yellows and oranges. The firey reds come from anthocyanin, produced from sugars trapped in the leaves as the plant prepares to shed them.

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Here in Glasgow we have avoided the drought conditions which have caused premature leaf drop in much of the country so there is still plenty to enjoy; the buttery yellow of the witch hazel and coppery tones of the acers along the white seat border, the drizzle of red spreading through the large leaved glory vine climbing the white wall and the .

Reds are apparently more predominant following a dry, warm and sunny Spring and Summer’.

Here are all the Cultural Cookery Recipe books from 2021. Enjoy tasty vegetarian recipes from all over the world!

July to August 2021 Recipe Book

August to September 2021 Recipe Book

October to November 2021 Recipe Book

You can watch all the videos and cook along at home on our facebook page.

Here is the March Cultural Cookery Recipe book. Enjoy recipes from Sri Lanka, Thailand, Mexico and Turkey.

You can watch all the videos and cook along on our Facebook.

Download the Cultural Cookery January to February recipe book here

With recipes;

French recipes; French Onion Soup & Pear Tarte Tatin

Mexican dishes; blackbean soup, corn riblets, guacamole.

North African recipes; Okra and Zucchini stew, roast Eggplant and Tahini, Taktouka

Jamaican dishes; grilled pineapple, rice and peas and jerk roast vegetables

Indian recipes; Kerala Cauliflower Curry, Palak Paneer, Spiced Basmati rice

As the days get longer and there is a bit of warmth in the sun, some of us are itching to get going in the garden. However, the earth is still too cold for most seeds, and the weather could turn wintery with snow or frost, so this is the ideal time for a bit of planning.

Whether you are new to vegetable growing or an old hand, it pays to consider a few things before rushing for the seed catalogues.

• Think about how much space you have to grow crops – an allotment plot or a few window boxes?
• How much time can you spend tending your plants – tomatoes are quite needy requiring staking, pinching, watering and feeding and potatoes are relatively easy going once planted. 
• What fruits and veg do you actually like eating – there’s no point in growing a patch of broccoli if  you’ll never eat it!
• What veg tastes best fresh – new potatoes freshly dug and straight in the pan, freshly cut salads, home-grown strawberries and raspberries can’t be beaten
• Cost can come into the choice too – onions and leeks are relatively easy to grow but whereas onions are cheap to buy, shop bought leeks are expensive so well worth growing your own.

If you have space to grow a few edibles it’s worth considering crop rotation. This is a system of grouping together plants in the same families: brassicas such as cabbages and broccoli; legumes such as peas and beans; alliums such as onions and leeks; and roots such as beetroot, carrots. The following year each group moves on to the next location. There are a number of benefits of this system:

• each plant family have similar needs making it easier for you to care for them, for example the brassicas are hungry plants which benefit from additional nitrogen. If they follow on from a crop of peas and bean they will benefit from the nitrogen legumes are able to fix in the soil via their root nodules. This is why it’s a good idea to leave the roots of your pea crop in the ground.
• Pests and diseases won’t get a chance to build up in a particular site if you keep rotating your crops.
• Crop rotation will help your soil structure with deep rooted crops such as parsnips and carrots opening up the soil, and can be followed by shallow rooted salads.

Even if you don’t have space to follow an extensive crop rotation plan, it will still be beneficial to grow crops in a different planter or pot or bit of the garden each year. Consider starting a compost heap, recycling kitchen scraps and making your own fertile compost to feed your hungry plants. There is no need to completely renew compost in your window box or planter each year, just replace the top half with your homemade compost or peat free compost.

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Interplanting your crops with companion plants such as French marigolds, calendula, borage and herbs will attract insect pollinators as well as natural enemies of crop pests. It will make your veg patch look very pretty too! By growing your own healthy, zero-food-miles fruit and veg you will be growing tasty fresh food without all the environmental costs of transport and packaging.

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Now that summer is definitely behind us, we can enjoy the gentle decay of perennials and autumnal tree colours. We are much less concerned with tidiness at this time of year than in the past, ensuring plenty of shelter and food for the garden wildlife as well as providing protection for the soil over winter.

There is, however, still plenty to be getting on with in the garden. One of the loveliest jobs at this time of year is planting as many bulbs as possible. There’s is nothing more encouraging than seeing new growth poking through the soil; crocus opening up in late winter sunshine for newly emerging queen bumblebees; dwarf narcissi in all their many shapes and colours; bold, bright and blousy tulip combinations.

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Now is the perfect time to plant most bulbs. Tulips are better delayed until November and even December as the cold temperatures reduce the risk of tulip blight, but all others will be happy to get into the ground while it is still quite warm and before frosts. There are so many possibilities with bulbs, definitely something for everyone: from indoor pots to naturalising in lawns; outdoor containers and window boxes; borders and under trees.

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By following a few simple rules you will get the most out of your bulbs and can look forward to cheery spring colour.

When planting, a good guide is to plant to a depth 3 times the size of the bulb, so larger daffodils will be deeper than tiny crocus, for example. One of the main causes of daffodils coming up with leafy growth but no flowers is planting too shallow.

Bulbs should be planted with the pointy end upwards, more obvious in some than others but the blunt end may have remnants of the roots as a guide.

All bulbs like a free draining soil so if your garden soil is quite heavy then fill the bottom of the planting hole with some gritty compost. We used some of last year’s leaf mould mixed with some grit, or you could use some old compost from this year’s pots.

If your garden becomes quite waterlogged over winter you might be better to plant your bulbs in pots and place them in gaps in the garden next spring.

Ideally bulbs in pots should be planted at the same depth as in the ground but this will depend on your pot size, and the most important thing is to have about 4cm of compost below the bulbs. A bulb ‘lasagne’ is a great way to layer up different bulb varieties in the same pot to give you many weeks of flowers. Begin with the largest bulbs at the bottom eg tulips, cover with a layer of compost, then add another layer of a different bulb eg narcissi, and finish with some wee crocus or iris. You could add some evergreen herbs and ferns to give your container some winter interest before the bulbs appear in the spring.

This year we are planting gaps in borders with crocus, allium and narcissi; filling containers and pots with tulips and muscari; lining the nook path with fritillary and experimenting with camassia, narcissi and alliums in the lawn.

To achieve a naturalistic feel to bulbs in your lawn it is best to scatter them on the ground and plant them where they fall. We have done this along the strip of lawn we leave unmown throughout the summer months. Fingers crossed the squirrels don’t get them!