Nothing lifts a courtyard quite like the first pot of spring bulbs. When the light is still thin and the borders are offering nothing but soggy stems, a cluster of containers by the back door can carry the whole garden on its shoulders. The trick is not to plant one heroic pot of daffodils, but to plan a relay: a succession of bulbs that hands over from January to May, so there is always something opening, fading and being replaced.

Start with a Simple Succession Plan

Work backwards from the flowers you actually want to see, then buy your bulbs in early autumn when the choice is best. A courtyard is a sheltered, warm spot, which usually nudges flowering forward by a week or two compared with an open garden.

• January to February: snowdrops, winter aconites and the earliest crocuses.
• February to March: Iris reticulata, Crocus tommasinianus and the first dwarf narcissi.
• March to April: daffodils, grape hyacinths and hyacinths.
• April to May: tulips, in every shape and shade you have room for.
• May to June: alliums, bridging the gap to summer pots.

Three or four medium pots planted for different months will give you far more pleasure than one enormous display that peaks and is gone in a fortnight.

Pots and Compost That Bulbs Actually Like

Bulbs hate sitting wet. In a courtyard, where pots often stand against walls and receive little drying wind, drainage is the single most important thing you can get right.

• Choose containers with generous drainage holes and stand them on pot feet or bricks so water can escape freely.
• Use a peat-free multipurpose compost mixed with around 20 per cent horticultural grit. For big daffodils and tulips, a loam-based compost such as John Innes No. 2 holds nutrients better through a long season.
• Avoid bulb fibre unless you are forcing hyacinths indoors — it has almost no nutrient content.
• Size matters: small bulbs are happy in a 15cm pot, but tulips and tall daffodils want at least 25–30cm of depth so they can root properly and stay upright.

Plant bulbs roughly two to three times their own depth. Small crocus corms go about 8cm down, daffodils 12–15cm, and tulips as deep as 20cm. Space them about a bulb's width apart — closer than in a border is fine, and gives you a fuller look.

Early Risers: Snowdrops, Crocus and Iris

Pot up snowdrops in September, or buy them "in the green" in late winter and slip them straight into containers. They look best crowded, so pack a shallow pan with Galanthus nivalis and top with grit, which sets off the white flowers and keeps the compost from splashing.

Crocus and Iris reticulata follow close behind. These are the pots to place where you will see them from a kitchen window, because their flowers close in dull weather and open wide in any hint of sun. A gritty, free-draining mix and full light keep them compact rather than drawn and floppy.

Mid-Spring: Daffodils and Hyacinths

For fragrance, hyacinths are unbeatable in a courtyard, where scent is trapped and concentrated. Plant them in October, keeping the noses just above compost level, and bring a couple of pots into a cool porch in late winter to hurry them along.

Dwarf narcissi such as 'Tête-à-Tête' are the reliable workhorses of small spaces — short enough not to topple, generous enough to fill a pot on their own. Taller varieties like 'Thalia' are lovely but benefit from being planted behind something sturdier, or in a heavy pot that will not blow over in a March gale.

Late Colour: Tulips and Alliums

Tulips are where a courtyard can really show off. Treat them as annuals in containers — plant fresh each autumn and lift them once the foliage yellows. Species tulips and dwarf varieties such as 'Ballerina' and 'Purissima' work beautifully in pots, mixing apricot, cream and deep plum.

Plant tulips in November, later than other bulbs, which reduces the risk of fungal problems in mild, wet autumns. Purple or white alliums planted in the same pots will rise above the fading tulip leaves in late May, so the container never looks empty. Mixing these through a large pot is a simple way of getting two seasons of interest from one planting.

Layering, Watering and What Comes Next

The quickest route to weeks of colour is a bulb lasagne: in a deep pot, place the latest-flowering and largest bulbs — tulips — at the bottom, cover with compost, add a layer of daffodils, cover again, then finish with crocus or grape hyacinths near the surface. The early bulbs flower first while the deeper ones are still pushing up, and the display runs on for months.

Through spring, water when the compost feels dry and feed every fortnight once shoots appear. After flowering, deadhead but leave the leaves for at least six weeks so the bulb can replenish itself. Then either lift and store the bulbs somewhere cool and dry, or plant them out in the garden. Start the whole cycle again in September with fresh compost — it is the small ritual that keeps a courtyard in flower from the darkest weeks of winter right through to early summer.