Bjan wrote:
Hi!

I'm totally new to gardening - but I'm wanting to try plant some
bulbs to flower in spring in some containers.

All the packaging says that the bulbs should be planted about 10cm
apart - is that true? I've seen some websites where it says to
plant
them 'shoulder to shoulder' - if I want loads of flowers in one
container, can I really only plant a few bulbs? I'm thinking of
all
the typical spring bulbs, like tulips, daffodils, Iris etc etc.

Also, can I plant some things that flower now, or even evergreen
plants in the same containers or will that stunt the growth of the
bulbs? Just to make the containers look like something all year
round?
[...]

You can certainly overplant your bulbs in containers just as you
might in the ground. But you'll need to give the pots liquid feeds
while the overplantings are in growth. On the whole, I think it's
better to keep the bulbs separate, though.

On planting distance, it's best to treat container displays of bulbs
as disposable, as they don't usually perform for a second year; so
packing them in close won't matter. The spacing you've been given is
for the open ground: but even there you shouldn't stick to it
exactly, or you'll get an unnatural effect.

Once they've flowered in the containers, you can plant the bulbs out
in the garden, and they should recover in a couple of years. (Not
hyacinths, though: they flower sparsely outdoors after being in pots,
but will probably never recover fully.)

--
Mike.