Surrey Homes | SH105 | October 2023 | Interiors & Bathrooms Supplement inside

Buried Treasure
Jo Arnell applies cooking principles to the garden this
month, as she starts planning her bulb lasangas
I’m doing my best squirrel
impression this month, scuttling
around, digging holes and burying
bulbs in the hope that, come the spring,
welcome splashes of colour will pop
up in my beds and borders. A lot can
happen in the garden in the intervening
months – not least the actual squirrels
following in my footsteps, unearthing
and skipping off with my buried
treasures. At the moment I’m full of
hope – in fact, anticipation and hope
– imagining how lovely it’s all going
to be is a big part of the process.
Autumn is the main bulb planting
season, but there are bulbs for other
time of the year too, planted in the
spring and early summer. This is
something that is often overlooked, and
potentially it can be confusing trying
to work out what and when to plant.
It helps to know a little about
what a bulb is and where in the
world it may have come from. A
bulb is a modified version of the
plant; leaves, stem and basal plate
(from which the roots will sprout),
compressed into a package, primed
to grow when conditions are right.
They tend to get lumped in together,
regardless of origin, but often need
different growing conditions in order to
thrive. There are bulbs from woodland
situations that flower in early spring
and retreat back under the soil once the
canopy of leaves appears. Woodland
bulbs will tolerate shade and slightly
damper conditions, but those that come
from more arid climates will prefer a
sunny and very free draining position.
They don’t mind the cold necessarily
– bulbs from mountainous regions
will manage very low temperatures,
but may also need a summer baking
and good drainage through the winter
– but wet, soggy soil may cause them
to rot or be more vulnerable to fungal
infections. Snake’s head fritillaries, on
the other hand, thrive in damp meadows
and won’t readily reappear in dry
conditions. If you know their origins,
you will get clues about the conditions
they’ve evolved to live happily in.
Bulbs in Containers
Bulbs work well in containers, either
mixed with spring bedding plants, or on
their own. The great thing about growing
in containers is that, once the flowers are
finished, you can move them to do their
tatty dying back out of sight behind the
shed. I sometimes put a plastic pot inside
a nice one, so that it can be removed,
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