Is it really too late for me to plant my bulbs?

[Flingmoo]

I optimistically bought a gazillion daffodil and tulip bulbs at a tempting price in the Autumn and only had time to plant about 15 of them. They've been sitting in the shed ever since. Is it too late now for me to plant them?

Also, I really need to dig deep holes for them? Our ground is so hard and there are so many to plant it would take me an age, part of the reason Imdidnt get round to planting them sooner. Could I just put them on top of some soil en masse and cover them up with lots of bark chippings?

As you can probably tell I am not much of a gardener, I know this all sounds very lazy but my excuse is that we have got a baby under 1 and he takes up almost all my time and energy! I'd love to have a few spring flowers coming up though...

I think it's too late for this year. If you keep them they may be ok if your plant next autumn though.

Or you could put them in pots. It's a bit easier than putting them in the garden.

I found some hyacinth bulbs in the garage last January and they were fine. A lot depends on how far north you are and whether your soil is waterlogged. I would give it a go. Maybe put them in pots if you dont want to dig in the garden.

Use a big spade to take out wide trenches, around 3 inches deep, putting the soil to one side. Then fork over the bottom to break up the hard ground, and if you can, put in rotted manure or a commercial feed/soil improver.

Then place the bulbs in the trenches, just pushing them into the ground, before covering over with the soil you dug out.

Mark the areas with canes or labels, to show where they are planted.

They may not flower as well as they would if planted earlier, but they should survive.

Daffodils are much easier and more tolerant than tulips, which ideally should be dug up each year, and the 'baby' bulbs stored and replanted to the next year. Daffs stay in for ever.

As Ferguson says, daffs will be happy in the same spot for ages and will flower next year if they don't manage it this time. If you line the trenches for tulip bulbs with small mesh chicken wire it's easy to lift up the bulbs and chuck them away if they're no good. Easier to buy fresh bulbs each year rather than try and grow on the small offsets.

And crocuses?? I bought some cheap ones the other day. They are trying to sprout in the packet, need to put them out quick! Do you think they'll flower anytime soon??

Crocuses - Yes, get them in the garden, or in compost in pots, as quickly as you can. As you say, they are sprouting in the packet, so they are 'rarin to go' and they know spring is coming! They may flower in Feb/March/April, but could be smaller than normal

Look to see if any of them are soft, or have mildew, and plant them away from healthy ones, in case it spreads.

I planed daffodil bulbs once Christmas Day (!) and it was fine - though a bit late flowering...

If you try to keep them until next year, they're likely to shrivel and become useless.

Have you got some pots and a sack of compost? If so, and your ground is still hard, the easiest thing is probably to plant them in pots, dot them around the flowerbeds so that you can enjoy the spring colour, and then plant them in the ground once they have finished flowering. The daffodils should be fine with this treatment, although the tulips may not flower very well and it may be best to chuck them away once they're flowered.

A couple of weeks ago I bought lots of bulbs, tulips, daffs and others all Dirt cheap. Some of them were ok and I've had a crucus surprisingly already. If I get anything I'll be happy and as you've said there's always next year to look forward to

my 2p worth:

Get the right trowel: a thin long one is good, about a fiver from amazon

only plant the ones which are not squidgy or mouldy

crocuses can be planted quite shallow, twice the depth of the bulb

daffodils are supposed to be 10-12 ins deep with grit in the base of the hole

tulips are best planted in a well drained pot layered with something else on top like forgetmenots or violas or something, then you wont have to dig hard soil.

the bark chip thing wont work. the chicken wire thing sounds like faff. the trench thing could work if you have a lot of bulbs.

It is a bit sad reading about all these bulbs that don't get planted in the Autumn. You aren't the only one.

ah just stick them in the ground, I plant bulbs any time of year and they either come up just a few weeks late, sometimes come up at completely the wrong time of year (a nice surprise) or come up the following year.

I know nothing about gardening though and do live on the south coast so milder climate than many areas.