The best way to grow daffodils is to set them out as naturally as possible. Twenty-five years ago, I moved a lot of daffodils that had been growing at the edge of a flower bed in big clumps. They looked wrong, formally used in spaced clumps along the edge of a flower border, the bed filled with dahlias in summer. It was colourful, but looked messy to my eye.

Just after they finished flowering, I dug them up with a fork and loaded them into a wheelbarrow. I broke the clumps of bulbs into bunches of three or four bulbs, small enough to be planted behind a spade. When these groups were spread out over the new area, I could see how they might look in future years.

Daffodils

The random planting was designed to look as though the bulbs might have found their way naturally into these positions. Largely just as they felt from my grip, they made widening and narrowing drifts. Then I went around and planted the bulbs where they lay, driving in the spade, leaning it forward and simply pushing the cluster of bulbs into the slot, watering once. And it worked out very well. The bulbs do look very natural in their new deployment, a much more attractive use.

The variety is Ice Follies, a very good daffodil with white petals, nicely rounded in shape and a pale yellow trumpet that fades to almost white before it withers. It is a good, durable flowering variety, with small bulbs and smallish flowers that jauntily hold themselves well and do not set a lot of seeds, which can interfere with the flowering rate.

In the years since, the small groups initially clumped up to make a bigger impact at flowering time and the show of flowers was pretty much even across the areas that were randomly planted.

Birch trees planted into the same area at the time have since grown up dramatically, pushing up to 20m with trunks 40cm across in some cases. While the birch woodland provides a nice setting for the bulbs, it eventually cast too much shade and growth and flowering were affected. Daffodils are remarkably tolerant of shading, seeming to continue until a key tipping point is reached and then it is a slow decline. Some areas of the woodland were also planted with Irish ivy as ground cover, which put even more pressure on the daffodils. They have declined so substantially that it might even be necessary to lift and move some of the bulbs again. The ones still emerging from ivy are almost impossible to extricate from the layer of tough ivy stems.

Cutting back the ivy hard in summer with a metal-blade brush cutter is good. But in nature time passes and change that did not stop when the daffs were planted has not stopped since, as that part of the garden slowly changed into a woodland.

However, a few trees have failed and this has allowed more light in. It will be interesting to see how widely the recovery will take place and how quickly. There are plenty of birch trees and more can be taken down without compromising the woodland look, allowing more light to reach the woodland floor – which happens in any case as the trees mature and shed side-branches.

Basil seeds

Nothing compares with the flavour of fresh basil. It is easy enough to grow, if you can provide a little protection – a greenhouse, conservatory, porch or a bright window sill indoors. Our climate is too cold to grow it well out of doors and it needs warmth. Even a makeshift frame of timber and polythene will do.

Basil.

Sow the seeds in the next week, in small pots or in a seed tray indoors. The heat of the kitchen is sufficient to germinate them in about 10 days. Be very careful not to overwater, wet compost is cold and makes basil seedlings rot.

Sow in individual pots because then there is no need to disturb the roots when transplanting into the open soil of the greenhouse or into large pots. Three or four plants will provide a lot of leaves. Or buy a pot with a dozen seedlings, divide carefully into four bunches for bigger containers.

This week

Trees, shrubs and roses

Bush roses and repeat-flowering climbers have been growing for some time and should be sprayed now against blackspot disease. Evergreens can be planted as rootballed trees, bare-root saplings or hedging over the next two or three weeks. A good watering at planting and two weeks later is usually all they need.

Fruit, vegetables and herbs

Be ready to sow most kinds of vegetable seeds as soon as conditions are right. Apply some fertiliser to ground for vegetables because they are mostly heavy feeders. Onion sets and shallots can be put in now too. Potatoes should be planted. Buds are breaking and new fruit trees and bushes should be planted as soon as possible.

Flowers

Plant gladiolus corms directly outdoors from now on. Dahlias could be planted out in mild areas, though that might still be a bit risky in parts. It is too late to sow bedding flowers because they will flower very late. Lifting and dividing of herbaceous flowers should be completed soon, but can still be carried out if necessary.

Lawns

Lawns need feeding in most cases, especially if grass grew poorly last year and there is a lot of moss. Mosskiller can still be used. Mowing should have been carried out already. If new areas of lawn are to be sown, the ground should be cultivated and firmed before sowing. Do not apply products to wildflower lawns.

Greenhouse and house plants

Clean out all old, dead plants and make room for the new season’s young seedlings. Feed and water all greenhouse plants to get them growing. Raise tomato plants for greenhouse growing now, also sweet peppers and chilli peppers. Pick out seedlings that are big enough. Pot up cuttings from last year that are growing.

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