Is it far too early to plant Spring bulbs?

[Annabelle4]

I'm newish to gardening, learning as I go (mostly with the help of this forum)!

Yesterday I was browsing in my local garden centre and saw that they have Spring bulbs. I asked the lady if it was too early to plant and she assured me it isn't so I spent most of yesterday planting dozens of tulips, daffodils and snowdrops.

Mentioned it to my mum today and she told me I did it too early, that I should have waited until the first week of september at the earliest. I've googled and it seems she's right

The packets said to plant in the Autumn, which technically could mean August?

What are your thoughts? What will happen to the bulbs now?

[Annabelle4]

Thanks for all your replies. I'll wait and see

[Pansythepotter]

Generally it is too early, but bulbs are very adaptable and forgiving of our mistakes. Some gardeners leave their bulbs in all year so these will be in the ground already anyway.

Generally speaking daffodils go into the ground any time from mid September to October. Tulips from October and November, this is to avoid Tulip blight. All that will happen now is that they may sprout early and could be damaged by frost, but most likely they will just sit there cosy and warm waiting for the temperature to drop before they start to strut their stuff. Try to avoid over watering them. If they are kept in fairly dry soil they will delay sprouting. You could also mulch them with composted bark which will give them a nice blanket.

I once found a load of bulbs in the garage in mid-January. I took a chance and planted them and had a good display only 3 weeks behind the ones I planted at the correct time.

[BartiDdu]

I think it is too early to plant bulb now. As a previous poster commented, they are likely to end up sprouting early and as a result get damaged/ destroyed. Tulips are most at risk from this, and these shouldn't really be planted until November. Daffodils should go in in early October.

As the bulbs are already in the ground, you could just see what comes up next year. More than likely, something will survive. You can also put in some more tulips later in the year, just to be sure.

I too have noticed that bulb packets often recommend planting the bulbs in Autumn. It may be worth noting that the text on these packets (and many plant labels) is usually translated word for word from Dutch. In Holland, Autumn doesn't start until the 21st of September. So what these instructions are really telling you is that you should wait until the end of September, but unfortunately that little bit of essential information is getting lost in translation!

[redfairy]

A little bit early but not outrageously so. Your daffs will be fine. Tulips I dont tend to have much success with unless I plant them in November time. Never had any success myself with snowdrop bulbs; they seem to fare better when put in 'in the green'.
Theres no hard and fast rules with gardening. You can have the most surprising successes with very little effort then something you put every ounce of nurturing into can fail dismally. It's great fun so good luck!

[Ferguson2]

As long as planted deeply enough, as per instructions, should be OK. It's only couple of weeks to September!

[JT05]

Yes, it's too warm and they'll start sprouting, then be ruined by frost.