When to plant bulbs

[jobnockey]

Bit of a bulb novice so help would be appreciated!

I have some bulbs (Allium, Dutch iris, daffodils), which say to plant early autumn.. I think that’s now but the place I want to plant them still has some annuals/ perennials flowering there. They’ll obvs die back eventually but I don’t want it to be too late to plant them...

How do you plan this!? Or will they be ok waiting a couple more weeks to go in?

I’m in London so although it’s got colder it’s still quite mild.

You could always plant them in pots now, and as soon as the flowers die back, plant them pot and all, where you want them.

I’ve planted bulbs as late as November and they were absolutely fine. They just took a little bit longer to get going in spring.

Just remember to keep them in a cool, dry & dark place until you are ready to plant

I've planted at the very end of December before and they were fine, just flowered later - which meant I had months of flowers as I had planted batches throughout the autumn.

Watching

The thing about planting bulbs in borders now is that it is a lot nicer to be out in the garden when there's a bit of sun and the ground isn't sodden and cold as it will be in November. :) I would put your bulbs in pots now and either transfer later or if they are nice pots, leave the bulbs in for bulb season and transfer to your borders in spring as soon as they have finished flowering. Or even leave them in the pots for next year if you have space .

I have just finished planting my bulbs today (apart from the anemones which I forgot you are supposed to soak) . It has been a lovely day for planting , warm and sunny. I am a bit worried that it is still very warm and they might start coming up a bit earlier than I want, so probably pushed them in a bit deeper than usual, but since everything seems to have been off timetable this year (I had apple blossom in August) I think it will sort itself out. I also planted my garlic, a bit early, they are supposed to be planted on the shortest day.

Thank you, will take advantage of the bit of sun in due today to get in the garden and get them into pots I think.