Don’t forget the bulbs

Forcing bulbs sounds like a load of specialist hard work, but for a little midwinter cheer it’s really very easy. Time is the main ingredient. Here is a photo record of some purple crocuses that have been forced. Firstly, ten weeks in a cool dark cupboard, just covered in a light compost and kept barely damp. Then into the daylight on my kitchen window sill and after a further 10 days here we have these spring crocuses in bloom.

You just have to remember that you’ve put bulbs away in a dark cupboard!

Two days on the kitchen window sill in full light.

Seven days on the kitchen window sill

Ten days on the kitchen window sill

After 15 days on the window sill – two fully open

And more flowers to come

And out in the garden the first snowdrops are in bloom. Galanthus Atkinsii