Sowing Annuals over spring bulb bed

[cazp]

Hi All

This year ive had great success with an annual cornfield mix in the front garden, which I have recently cleared.

I am planning to sow another annual mix around May next year, and my plan is to plant some aliums and dwarf iris in the same area for spring interest... my only dilema is whether this will cause problems when sowing the annuals in May as I understand bulb foliage needs to be left, so I wonder if the result would be a patchy annual flowers bed. Would be interested to hear from anyone who has done similar, what the best approach is / how it worked out.

Many thanks!

[Snoop Puss]

Good question, thanks for posting. I've been pondering the same so will tag along to see what answers you get, cazp.

[Nicos]

Good question..and nope, I don’t know either,
One thing which comes to mind is that you should probably feed bulbs once they’ve flowered so they come up good and strong the following year.
Cornfield wild flowers tend to grow in poorer soil, so that too would be something I’d want to check out first. Maybe it depends in the mix?

If unsure, maybe you could plant the bulbs in pots placed in that area- perhaps raised up a tad if necessary. More watering involved with that of course.

[cazp]

Thank you for your replies.

The mix I am growing this year is from the Pictorial Meadows Annuals range, and it contains annuals that need better soil than the cornfield mix i grew this year. I already had a very light scattering of snowdrops in that area which I planted in the green... hoping they will come up again this year. but wanted to add to them the spring bulbs with more colour.

My initial though is to plant some bulbs (not too densely) then top dress / rake in and rake in B&Q manure soil improver. Good idea about the pots, and to to add more feed once the bulbs are flowering though.

[bramble]

I would think the foliage from your spring bulbs would have died down by the time you need to plant your annual flower mix.

[cazp]

Thank you for all your replies

Just to update, I went ahead and planted a few groups of bulbs directly in the front garden along with some aliums, leaving sufficient gaps in between to help when I sow the annuals next year around any remaining foliage. I have top dressed the area with compost to add some insulation and help improve the soil a bit more for the type of annuals chosen. Have enough bulbs left for some pots which I will do this weekend using the lasagne method.

The bulbs in the ground include crocuses, iris reticulata (dwarf type), and a small number of "summer drummer" and "hair" aliums, with some snowdrops planted last year. There are some Tulips and daffodils to add in to the pots. The annuals I plan to use are the Pictorial Meadows "Classic" mix.

Excited to see how it will all turn out and will post an update!

[Nicos]

Sounds lovely!