IN MY local garden centre they began to display Christmas decorations for sale at the end of September. Perhaps there are sound economic reasons for this, but I cannot believe that anyone is thinking about Christmas this far in advance. What all good gardeners should be thinking about now are the months after Christmas, when we will want a good display of spring flowering bulbs in the garden. October is the time to be buying and planting such bulbs, and if you can fight your way through the decorations in the garden centre you will probably find a good selection of bulbs for autumn planting; daffodils, tulips, crocus, hyacinths, Agapanthus, alliums, Camassia, Fritillaria, grape hyacinths and leucojums. Alternatively you could furnish yourself with a good collection of bulb catalogues and choose your spring flowers from the comfort of your armchair!

Most of the bulbs we plant in our gardens are cultivated varieties, raised in nurseries in this country or in the Netherlands. Their parents originally came from mountainous regions such as those of Europe and the Mediterranean, North Africa, Eastern Europe and Asia. Bulbs have evolved to survive in harsh climates, to withstand winter cold, or summer drought, or both. They stockpile energy in an underground storage system (the bulb) until suitable conditions arrive, then growth and flowering are very rapid, allowing flowers and seeds to be produced and the food reserve to be replenished before the harsh weather returns. Nearly all the hardy bulbs that we can grow prefer a cold winter and a hot, dry summer, flowering either in spring or, less often, in autumn.

My bulb order from Brockhole this year included 500 late-flowering tulips, to be planted among the wallflowers in the beds on the top terrace. We have chosen a variety called Kingsblood that will flower in May when we have plenty of visitors around to appreciate them. The flower stems should be tall, around two feet in height, and the flowers a rich cherry red, each petal edged in scarlet.

Also included in my bulb order were 1,000 miniature daffodils, Narcissus pseudonarcissus var. lobularis, for planting on the woodland bank above the car park. We cleared through this banking last winter, taking out or coppicing overgrown shrubs and controlling the undergrowth of brambles and ferns. In spring we moved some snowdrops from another part of the garden, splitting and dividing them before planting them around the bases of a couple of large oak trees. There are already plenty of bluebells growing in the area - with the addition of all those daffodils I am looking forward to a really good show next spring.

Jobs for this week

- Remove summer bedding if you haven’t already done so, and replace with winter and spring flowers such as wallflowers and winter pansies. Interplant with tulips and daffodil bulbs for a really full spring display.

- Lift bedded-out tuberous begonias while still in leaf, put them in boxes in a shed or greenhouse to dry out and die back gradually.

- Remove fallen leaves from ponds and pools before they begin to rot and pollute the water.