It’s bulb-planting time. Fill every container, plant every spare inch of soil so that when spring comes everyone will be pleased (even the hard-hearted are softened by the sheer exuberance that bulbs bring on a grey day). And “everyone” includes bees and other pollinators who feast on bulbs. Or should do. Sadly, too many of our bulbs are a poisoned chalice for a hungry pollinator.

The bulb industry is huge – great swaths of the Netherlands is under bulb production, and row after row is produced for both the cut-flower market and for bulbs to plant. The majority of these are grown with pesticides and fungicides so that we can all expect a perfect bloom.

This is not a good thing for Holland’s soil and biodiversity, but the pesticide trail doesn’t stop there: it ends up in your garden. That expression of joy after a dull winter, that gesture of hope planted for your future, is a ticking time bomb if it is not growing naturally without pesticides.

Neonicotinoids are used as a flower bulb drench to keep aphids and other sap-sucking insects off plants, and are common pesticides in the bulb industry. The half-life of neonicotinoids is estimated somewhere between 34 days and three years as they break down in the soil; it is not only flying insects that are affected during that time, but bacteria, amoebae, worms and insects in the soil, too. Even when the levels of toxicity are too low to kill soil fauna, studies have shown that they impair earthworms’ ability to tunnel. Every bee that visits your bloom, every worm that tunnels around your bulbs, is tasting a tiny bit of poison.

The solution is not to give up planting bulbs, but to buy sustainably and naturally produced ones. Organic bulbs have been around for a while, but the choice was limited. There were a lot of yellow tulips, and some Narcissus ‘Jetfire’, and that seemed to be about it. However, the picture has just got a lot more colourful.

There is a growing band of Dutch growers producing zero pesticide and, in some cases, organically certified bulbs. Natural Bulbs is based in the Netherlands, offers free delivery over £33 from its website and a wide variety, such as the lovely diminutive Tulipa tarda and the divine Narcissus ‘Thalia’ (smells heavenly), as well as cultivars such as the much-loved tulip, ‘Black Parrot’. The bulbs cost about ¤5 (£4.50) for seven to 10 bulbs – about the same as many conventionally grown bulbs.

You can also order via UK companies: the Organic Gardening Catalogue offers a good range, as does Crocus , which has a more limited, but decent range, including dahlias.

There’s still plenty of time for planning: the window is open until the end of November. Choose organic, and plant hope for spring.