Worse than a beginner please help with my flower bed

[RaphaTwat]

I’ve got a large patch of land that I’ve recently membranes and re-soiled. Nothing is planted yet so I’m assuming I can plant some summer flowering bulbs/seeds in May when the frost has gone but to get a full blown swathe of flowers I’m probably going need to get bedding plants aren’t I?

Then in autumn start planting?

To say I’m a beginner would be giving myself too much credit, clueless here.

You could put in some summer flowering bulbs
www.thompson-morgan.com/top-10-summer-flowering-bulbs

Plenty of choice or you can buy a bag with of a summer collection cheaply from somewhere like Wilko
www.wilko.com/en-uk/wilko-summer-garden-collection-spring-planting-bulbs-50-pack/p/0124549

You could also add some bedding plants or even perennials

How big is it? What aspect does it face? Does it get full sun? How many hours a day?

For a larger border, I would start by planting some shrubs to form the backbone (which ones will depend on the answers to the questions above) and then intersperse with perennials bulbs and annuals. Now is a perfectly good time to plant everything except tender annuals.

Most things if planted now from pots will give flowers in the first year, of course they will take a few years to reach full size, so you can fill the gaps in between with annuals for a full effect the first year. Hardy annuals from seeds planted now will give you plenty of colour in the summer.

Thank you for the feedback. It’s probably around 50 square metres so it’s not small.

It gets full sun for half the day and then half of the area is shaded.

I think I need to get myself to a garden centre to see what’s on offer because as I said, I’m bloody clueless. I like the idea of annuals and perennials.

This may be a daft question but if we plant spring bulbs in autumn and they flower And then die back, can we plant (in the same space) summer bulbs? Or should we just do bedding plants?

Sorry for any stupid questions.

You plant summer flowering bulbs in the spring when the spring-flowering ones are already out, so you will need to plant them in different places.

Shrubs in pots can be planted all year round unless the ground is frozen solid. Do you have a branch of Morrisons supermarket near you? They do good cheap shrubs, and our local one has some clematis and other climbers in at the moment.

You still have plenty of time! If you don't feel comfortable growing from seed then you can get plug plants which will be great.
Is it a decorative plot or do you want to use like an allotment?
I would def go for perennials or annuals rather than bedding plants. Even cheap cosmos plants will give you loads of colour and height.
Some sweet pea tipis (just made with bamboo canes) would look brilliant and still time to plant some seeds.