Naturalising little flowering bulbs in your lawn is a fantastic project for autumn. Although it’s obviously a man-made process, you can create a wonderfully natural look, as though Mother Nature did it all herself! There are a few things to get right to maximise your lawn display.
Firstly, choose only one or two types and varieties – too much of a good thing with hotchpotch colours and sizes can look odd. Secondly, for a subtler look, pick low-growing bulbs. If you select earlier-flowering bulbs they’ll have bloomed and gone over before you start to mow the lawn next spring.
That said, these days mowing seems to go on later and later and start earlier and earlier every year, so ultimately you can choose what you like – just keep your mowing schedules in mind. Either scatter a handful of bulbs as a freehand method to work out where to plant, or randomly place anywhere. Then dig to plant.
A bulb planter is a great tool for this job, picking out sections of lawn easily for you to pop some bulbs in, before you replace the tops and water in well. This is good for taller, larger bulbs, but you can also slice out a section of top turf with a spade, before placing little bulbs in an even pattern on top and then replacing the turf slice. Always firm in turf so it’s flush again with the lawn surface, and water well afterwards.