Flower bulbs-Autumn planting

Just picked up this thread - if anyone still reading/contributing - we bought some expensive bulbs at the flower market in Amsterdam one year and they were rubbish - probably been kept at the wrong temperature for too long.

However - any bulbs I've bought from Lidls have always been brilliant.

(By the way, an afterthought, nothing to do with bulbs! but don't buy Christmas flowering red poinsettias from the open doorways of supermarkets in November/December. They don't like the cold wind and fluctuating temperatures, and won't do so well after you get them home).

Thank you all for your help, I’ve noted timings.

I grow a lot in three half barrels in the front of the house. I layer them (lasagne planting). Deepest tulips, then daffs then irises and crocus. All planted in October

I should wait till the leaves die down naturally to move them but need to put my summer planting in this weekend so will carefully dig them out and put in really big flower pots and leave them to die off. In a few weeks time I will take off browned foliage and store in the dry shed. They come back year after year but I do give them a feed after blooming.

September onwards except Tulips which should not be planted until November to avoid the risk of fire blight disease. All bulbs need to be planted to a depth of 2 times their height - for a daffodil this would be 4”.

If you have a Wilko near you they do cheap but quality bulbs. Otherwise Bloms or Avon Bulbs have a good range.

The best show of daffs (peachy double variety) and narcissi in pots that I have ever had were from bulbs I bought in Lidl during lockdown!

The Sarah Raven catalogue is lovely to look at but I've never had much success with the bulbs I've ordered. Out of 15 bulbs of one variety I planted 2 autumns past, only one came up (and has determinedly come again this year, hurrah). However, I'm not particularly green-fingered, my garden is shady, and the slugs laugh at love my planting efforts! Good luck with the bulbs - the ones I've had most success with are the ones I've grown/bought in pots and planted out in the garden once the flowers have died to give them chance to establish before the leaves die back. There is usually very thorough advice on websites these days though.

At a slight tangent to (or possibly hi-hijacking, in which case I apologise) the opening post, I have only grown bulbs in containers, not in the ground.

Now that they're finished, do I take them out and store them (and if so, how), or do I compost them and start against next year, or do I leave them in the containers?

If I leave them in the containers, can I plant other, more summery things in with them, or do I have to store the whole container until next Spring?

If you're going for tulips - don't plant them till November!

I don't usually buy spring flowering bulbs until September and plant them usually October. If you plant too early they tend to come up blind.

My sarah raven catalogue is wonderful to look at, some of the photos could make me very envious! The quality is good but her prices are on the high side and, although we treated ourselves to a few of her expensive specialist tulips (black parrot) we only got a 1 out of 5 flowering rate. The more common varieties were top notch though. I am also a spring bulbs rookie and hadn't realised the more specialised tulip varieties don't always come into flower. I was very disappointed.

Thank you all for your help, I’ll start a list!

But if you are fussy about particular varieties order them now as they sell out quickly!

Dont know if I'm allowed to mke personal recommendation...?
peternyssen does great online bulbs....

September through to November are spring bulb planting times. Tulips can wait till early November. They start appearing in garden centres at the end of summer.

Thanks Casdon always been veg, so a new venture for me.

Most bulbs for spring flowering next year aren’t yet available unless you buy them in pots, if you wait until August you can buy them loose at the garden centre and place them directly where you want them to flower.

Merylstreep thank you, to flower next spring is what I’m after, they’ll be going in the ground.

Are they going in the ground or pots? Either way I would get them in now. I planted a lot of Nerines in pots and some in the ground back last spring.