Carlisle’s blooming bulbs are up for grabs

Bulbs from Carlisle’s award winning Bitts Park are available for Carlisle’s green-fingered residents from Saturday, 24 May.

Spring bulbs and plants are now being lifted from Bitts Park and Hardwicke Circus by Carlisle City Council’s grounds team and will be available for residents to pick up from an area next to the Tennis Courts in Bitts Park. More than 18,000 tulip bulbs, 1,400 Hyacinths and 8,000 Polyanthus plants were planted, many of which will be available, free of charge.

The bulbs are surplus to the Council’s needs and offering them to Carlisle gardeners is a great way of recycling bedding plants. With a bit of tender care they could be planted later this year.

Tulips and Hyacinths need to be allowed to die back naturally until the leaves start turning yellow. The dry and brittle foliage can then be removed and the bulbs stored in shallow boxes in a dry place until they are planted out in the autumn.

Polyanthus should be planted out, watered well and given a feed during the summer, in preparation for planting out in their flowering position in autumn.

The bulbs are available for collection from the area next to the Tennis Courts in Bitts Park and the advice is to arrive early to avoid disappointment.

Carlisle was awarded a Silver award in the prestigious Britain In Bloom horticultural competition in 2007. The city is entered in the Cumbria in Bloom Competition again this year. Bitts Park, Hammond’s Pond, Carlisle Cemetery grounds and Tullie House gardens were all singled out as for a Green Flag award from the Civic Trust. They, along with Stanwix Churchyard and Kingmoor Nature Reserve, are all in the running for Green Flag awards this year, the announcement will be made in July.