What's the easiest (and cheapest?) way to get loads of colour onto a patio?

[whingeyarse]

I really love a colourful garden but I really don't enjoy gardening and I can't spare hundreds on just buying ready planted tubs.

So do you have any tips for what to plant in pots that will flower all summer and need little more than careful watering?

Summer bulbs and tubers are the easiest. They store water and nutrients and don’t need as much care as bedding.

If you are a fan of bedding plants then pansies, geranium and pelargonium flower for a long time and are easy to care for.

Fake flowers - a game changer for me and some are very realistic

Nasturtiums are long flowering and easily cared for. Varieties include yellow through orange to deep red. Some are compact and others will ramble through the garden.

Bulbs are the way for me.
Get a few mixed packd by colour, plant them between march and may (check the pack) and they come up lovely.

Cosmos are cheap to buy, easy to look after, and will flower for months from July onwards. Mine are often still flowering in November.

I have loads of pots on the terrace and have a mix of

Bulbs - tulips, dahlias, chrysanthemums mainly
Pelargoniums
Seedlings I buy for delivery in May - long flowering ones eg argyranthemum, snapdragons
Some perennials that don’t work in my soil but do well in a pot eg azalea, Veronica gentianodes
Some seeds I sow in Mar/Apr eg didiscus, cornflower, nigell

this is great, thank you for the suggestions! And coincidentally my MIL brought me some nasturtium bulbs yesterday

I'm making a list and heading to the garden centre today.

Also, I've been given this box of bulbs. Can any of you advise how many I should put in a pot and in what combos? I feel a bit paralysed with indecision (and ignorance!)

Should I just split them into two pots, half each?

I would stick the lilies and corn lilies in one pot..
The dahlia in another pot.
And the ranunculus in another.
That would give you three nice pots of colour.
I like to start my ranunculus in small pots in the greenhouse but you could put them on your kitchen window sills.

Oh and check what your mum bought you as nasturtium some as a seed and not a bulb. The seeds are just a bit smaller than a died pea and will grow pretty much anywhere you throw them.

I second nasturtiums! They grow mammoth and so easy from seed - plant straight in the ground/ planter. Good for bees too.

Morrisons have fuchsias in plastic sleeves for £1. Loads of different varieties. Some are hardy (you have to rifle through to find them) - mine have come back this year.

They have loads of summer bulbs too. I like the trailing begonias, you get four tubers in a pack. Dead easy to grow. I think Wilko do a good range of bulbs too.

I'm not a major fan of geraniums but they're handy as they grow big with minimal effort. Some unusual colours available.

B&Q do summer annuals with the roots contained in a 'teabag' (!) Time-saving and less mess as you pop the parcels straight in the compost and water, no soil everywhere!

Potted lavender is gorgeous and bee friendly. Likes lots of sun and can survive drought (Mediterranean)

I always water my pots and baskets with flower feed to ensure the best blooms Regular deadheading will give a longer flowering period

Aldi have a 6pk variety basket/container collection this Sunday. Looks like a mix of flowering and trailing things.

ps I planted that M&S selection last year and nothing flowered . Hopefully you have better luck than me!

The lilies have started coming up this year in the same pot (I gave up and didn't empty it) so we'll see what happens!