This is a short, sweet introduction to planting bulbs with a superscript that says: “Bulbs are a great way to add colour to your garden all year round. Charlie Dimmock shows you how to spot a good bulb and how best to plant them.” Well, I though Charlie would be a knobbled-fingered man but it turned out to be a redheaded lady kneeling in an overgrown garden in England somewhere.

Charlie told me several things I never knew about bulbs. First, you get the hardy and non-hardy types, so ask you garden center about which is which. Second, “bulbs” is a misnomer. They are either corms or tubers. Third, you plant begonia corms with the hollow side facing up. Fourth, a healthy corm is fat, round and hard (like a good garlic bulb). Fifth, you plant bulbs at three times their depth. Sixth, if you have heavy clay soil put a layer of grit at the bottom of the hole to prevent the bulbs lying in moisture. And seventh, you plant summer-flowering bulbs in early spring and winter-flowering bulbs in early autumn.

It was well worth spending a couple of minutes seeing how it’s done.