I had hoped that there might be some bulbs lurking in our garden, but apparently not

[purpleturtle]

My neighbours' gardens are shooting forth crocuses left, right and centre. We seem to have 3 bulbs in our front and back gardens combined.

The gardens are mainly lawned, with flower beds at the edges. Hmmm, maybe they're borders? (Can you tell how little I know about gardening?).

Could you suggest anything I can do to get some early colour into the garden?

And should I do anything to the marigolds that have finally stopped flowering?

What about some winter pansies as an instant boost of colour and then go and pick some seeds to plant next month so they'll flower as it gets warmer.

you can buy bedding plants i guess...

ive just bought a bunch of seeds, all different but all Hardy Perrenials (i am not spending time and effort planting stuff that wont come back again and again or that wants covering with fleece during frosts good god, who has 6timne^??)

i plan to sort them into height groups, mix them with compost and sprinkle them about the place...

other idea to fill space attractively and with low maintenance is to get a batch of wildflower seeds and sow a whole bed (border, whatever) with them... you can call it eco friendly too and say youre syupporting vital bird and insect life

this is all theory for me so far you understand... ive never really gardenned in my life and for last four years anything planted or attenmpting to grow in our garden has be snaffled overnight by million of rabbits, or deer, or badgers even... holes all over the place from all the above, plus moles... sigh.

Could I plant wildflowers yet, or do I need to wait?

You sound a bit like me, Snappy.

I have planted seeds in the past, but I can't say I've been overwhelmed by the results.

Maybe I should go the big planter route so that I can move them next summer. I never seem to have the enthusiasm at the right time.

I think you can start planting March/april time.
Although some can be as late as May/June.

grab some pots of snowdrops and daff's from the garden centre and wack them in, if the assorted wildlife and squirrels dont take em, they'll arrive again next year of their own accord

yes, im a fan of planters... but dont think youll actually move big ones once theyre planted up... they weigh a TON. mine do anyway.

is it not the right time of year for wildflower seeding then? hmmm
i have an area we were grassing (post building works) for the sake of not knowing what else to do with it... and i seeded a largish area a couple of months ago on the basis that if it didnt take i could do it again later anyway (grass seed not v expnsive), and it looked so bloody awful as was and the weeds were taking over... and it actually looks quite grassy/good already... so i figure ill go with the wildflower seed if its not too much... its v mild here anyway.

Have spent an hour or so pottering about in the garden and have found 2 (count them!) snowdrops. There are a very few shoots of something else around. Didn't know I could transplant snowdrops and daffs like that, Frizbe. Might give that a go. And I do like the wildflowers idea.

I feel a half-term walk to the garden centre coming on.

farking squirrels ate mine

That could well be what happened here. Our lawn is full of holes dug by an industrious squirrel.

Perhaps I'll stick to the seeds.

the funniest thing about our resident squirrel is that s/he dug up my bluebell bulbs and spat them out