Flower pots for a beginner

[Skivvywoman]

Looking for help (I did ask in chat and got good replies but can't find it now!)

I'm not green fingered at all, in my back garden it's kept tidy

I have a balcony and I've tidied it up, new.chairs table,lights etc but would love to plant flowers in pots but I know it's a bit late now, but I've just found done bulbs in b&m that can be planted between August and November for next spring

How do I plant these bulbs and how to I treat them over winter in pots?

Any help would be appreciated

Hi there

There are loads of things that will look good in pots around now. Try a mixture of dahlias and grasses - look fab all through autumn and into winter. You can underplant these with spring bulbs (plant all bulbs at three times their own depth, or thereabouts), pointy bit sticking upwards and you're done really. Make sure there are drainage holes in your pots. You won't need to do anything over winter, just leave them and they'll come up in spring. Unless you have squirrels on your balcony? In which case cover with chicken wire so the buggers don't dig them up! Pretty much all spring bulbs should be planted between Sept and Nov. Out of interest, how much sun does your balcony get? This will affect the kinds of plants that are happy there..

Thanks for the reply

During the day it get the sun/light but after 3/4pm it's shaded

What kind of earth do I put in them?

I'm thinking of getting bulbs,pots and earth now and doing it when I come back my holidays at beginning of October I'm in scotland and it's not freezing then can still be a bit mild

Sounds perfect. Just don't leave the bulbs anywhere warm. A multipurpose compost will do fine. Hope it turns out ok. Sounds as if your balcony is south or east facing, which is great. A bit of sun but not all day is ideal.