If you want your garden to be beautiful next spring, you need to plan ahead. September is bulb planting season and Mr Middleton’s Garden Shop on Mary street in Dublin One has everything you need including 4,000 varieties of seeds, over 300 varieties of daffodils and over 400 of tulips!
It’s easy to be a gardener with flower bulbs
So how would you like your garden to grow – all white or a rainbow of colour? Mr Middleton’s welcoming staff will provide you with expert advice. We had a chat with Sean Quearney who gave us lots of great tips to ensure our garden is blooming lovely next Spring!
According to Sean, “Flowers are so easy to breed, and they essentially look after themselves. This is particularly true of bulbs – everything they need for the year’s growth is actually contained within the bulb itself. You just need to plant it”. Sean’s advice is to “plant bulbs at a depth of three times their size, keep them watered and feed them with some tomato feed in the Spring. They need very little maintenance.”
So, what are the most popular bulbs? Every year Mr Middleton’s Garden Shop completely sells out of a tulip called ‘Queen of the night’ and a daffodil called ‘Dutch master’.
September/October is the busiest time of the year at Mr Middleton’s. During our visit Sean explained that there is currently a Worldwide bulb shortage due to lengthy drought which affected much of Europe this year. However, the team at Mr Middleton’s source their bulbs form six different suppliers and have the biggest selection of plants in Ireland!
Who loves garlic?
It’s a bit too late for planting vegetables in your garden, but in two or three weeks, you can plant winter garlic and winter onions. They will be ready to harvest in May and June.
In October the shop will be full of roses and fruit to plant. You will find around 40 different types of roses and fruits like raspberries, apple trees, plums, passion fruit, kiwis and a lot more besides.
World’s best garden experts in Dublin
Twice a year Mr. Middleton organizes a gardening seminar which attracts some of the best-known gardeners in the World to Dublin. This year’s event will take place in City West Hotel in Saggart on October 13th.
Be inspired top horticulturalists Nick Hammilton from the Barnsdale Gardens, Martin Fish, recipient of the 2018 prestigious Harlow Carr Medal for his contribution to horticulture in England, Marie Staunton, one of Ireland’s best-known gardening teachers and Mr Middleton himself who will be the host for the day.
