I'm a gardening pro – do my essential £2.49 Home Bargains hack now to bring your bulbs back next year

The Sun

03-05-2025

It's that tricky time between spring and summer bulbs.
Your daffodils need deadheading, while your tulips are probably nearing the end.
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And instead of gorgeous bright blooms filling your outside space with colour, chances are that by now that bank of bulbs could look a bit past its peak.
It begs the question though - what DO you do with all those straggly, half munched leaves making a mess in your beds?
What you DON'T want to do - is cut away all the green leaves from your daffodils and tulips, even if they're getting on your nerves.
It may look like they're over it - but they're actually creating energy to store in the bulb and packing it with nutrients - to make sure it can go again next year.
And make sure you definitely deadhead - this stops both tulips and daffodils from wasting time making seeds - and helps them focus on the bulb itself.
Some experts recommend plaiting the leaves - so at least they're tidy while they're soaking up the sun.
I've done this - its actually a really mindful exercise, and at least makes it look tidy if nothing else.
And others reckon you should dig up the bulbs to store until they need planting again.
I've never done this - life's too short and I don't have the space to store them.
However there is a key handy hack you can do right now - which should boost the bulbs energy levels in the hope they'll bless you with a 2026 showgarden.
Gardener shares 'genius' bulb planting hack that will give your months of spring flowers & it takes seconds to do
Give them a decent dose of liquid feed this weekend - ideally a high potassium fertiliser - but any liquid feed will do.
Home Bargains are currently selling Westland All Purpose Plant Food for just £2.49.
It contains seaweed, which is a great addition to any plant feed.
Just give them a regular dose until the foliage has completely died out - and you're giving them the best chance to return again next year.
Once the leaves have yellowed, you can get stuck in - they should come away in your hands really easily.
And then just pray to the bulb Gods that they'll come back to bless you next year.
ALSO IN VERONICA'S COLUMN THIS WEEK
Best Gardening tech, plus competitions and a chance to win £1000 of Gardena producs and £370 of VEg Trugs thanks to Robert Dyas
PUT down those measuring tapes and get rid of the Garden Design books - the plant tech revolution has arrived.
Designer and Your Garden Made Perfect presenter Tom Massey is creating a Chelsea showgarden this year based on how AI can help transform tree care.
And the RHS has already launched ChatBotanist - an AI-powered tool to provide advice to gardeners.
Here's some of the best other high street innovations.
FRYD helps you plan your veg patches, find the best crops and companion plants for your climate and location - and sets timely reminders.
THRIVE'S CULTIVATING WELLBEING APP encourages gardening for health - and creates a personalised plan tailored to your gardening space and time where you can rack your own progress - and it offers active and mindful activities to do in your outside space.
HOTA offers instant plant solutions. You can map out your bed and aspect, use its soil ID tech, and then rely on its algorithm to come up with a list of plants that will thrive - and where to buy them.
GOOGLE PIXEL'S GEMINI Literally point the phone at a plant in a garden centre and ask Gemini Live - in real time - questions like: 'is this good for my south facing garden - and if not, which similar plants would work.'
Show it a struggling specimen and ask it what's wrong - or even use the Pixel Studio app to visualise how that piece of garden furniture you're hankering after, would fit in your outside space.
ELHO SMART PEBBLE Stick this nifty little gadget into your houseplant pot - set up the app - and the pebble will alert you to when attention is needed on water levels, light exposure, temperature and nutrient needs.
STIGA operates their mower from an app - where you can measure out your garden using Google maps to help it move between different areas with ease - and it won't kill any hedgehogs. .
IRRIGATION There's lots of smart water timers out there that allow you to take control of irrigating your garden - with just an app and a box you attach to your outside tap. But Gardena has gone one step further - offering a sensor in the soil that measures moisture and cancels the planned irrigation if needs be.
NEWS! GROW-your-own gardening expert, Huw Richards, has teamed up with GARDENA to launch a Top of the Plots competition.
Launched with the support of The National Allotment Society - from May 19, gardeners can enter by submitting photos and descriptions of their plots or allotments via email, with the selected category.
The main awards include Best Allotment, Best Garden Plot and Best New Plot - a plot started in the past 12 months, From these, the overall winner will be crowned Plot of the Year.
Plus there's additional recognition for Kids on the Plot, Best Small Plot - such as a windowsill garden, Biodiversity on the Plot, and Best Community Plot.
The main competition prize is £1,000 worth of GARDENA products and gardening vouchers, as well as a champion's plaque.
For more information visit www.gardena.com/uk.
NEWS! Ambassador for National Children's Gardening week, Lee Connelly - AKA The Skinny Jean Gardener - is embarking on a school tour which will see him inspire 10,000 children to get gardening.
The 2025 UK School Gardening Tour will bring hands on gardening experiences to schools across the country, highlighting its benefits for sustainability, mental well-being and education. It will include interactive workshops - and showcase how outdoor learning supports subjects like science and maths.
'The tour will show kids that growing their own plants isn't just fun, it's a skill for life' he told Sun Gardening.
For more information visit www.skinnyjeangardener.co.uk
WIN! Robert Dyas is offering one lucky reader the chance to win nearly £370 worth of Veg Trugs - the perfect raised beds to grow vegetables. You can win a medium classic raised planter worth £159.99, a proper cover for it (£89.99)and a herb raised planter worth £74.99. To enter visit www.thesun.co.uk/VEGTRUG or write to Sun Veg Trug competition, PO Box 3190, Colchester, Essex, CO2 8GP. Include your name, age, email or phone. UK residents 18+ only. Ends 23.59GMT 17.05.25 T&Cs apply.
For more gardening news, tips and competitions, follow me @biros_and_bloom