Best time to buy spring bulbs?

Daffodil bulbs were on sale in Tesco's yesterday.

It seems early , but I saw Spring bulbs for sale at our local street market last week .

In the past , I've bought them from Wilko's with success .

Buying now means that you have a bigger choice .
I like colour schemes and I'm not happy with mixed colours .

As a general rule -plant daffodils in September and tulips in December .

If in pots I use fresh compost and if in the ground I dig in some compost .
I add a handful of Vitax Q4 slow release fertiliser though it's not essential .

Having bought and planted them - I don't want any disappointments !

I store my bulbs in the cool part of the house prior to planting .

I usually bag a bargain in the garden centre in November - when they are desperate to grab all their space to display Christmas stuff - and sell the bulbs at half price or less to make space…

Not my expertise - but I sure love the early spring flowers. Such a joy to see the bright yellow daffs and multi-colored tulips.

Do you know that tulips are the only cut flower that keep growing when placed in water? 🌷
USA Gundy

Buy your bulbs when the late season sales are on. I bought about £75 worth of narcissi and tulips for £30. I got them in early January and planted immediately as per instructions. They flowered in the normal time window for these bulbs, and gave a wonderful display for half the price plus a free bag of daffodils.

Definitely tins, the mice in my garage have tried chewing my plastic boxes so I now store only in tins. They have even chewed away at the foam padding on the handles of an extending cutter which makes it more difficult to hold. They also made a nest in one of a pair of old roller blades (my sons not mine ).

I’ll find some mouse-proof containers, thanks for that tip!

I need to get browsing to decide what to buy.

Listening to BBC GQT earlier this year they were discussing bulbs that come up blind, apart from being planted too early or late they mentioned that some growers lift bulbs too early rather than leaving in the ground for another year or two to mature. Mainly due to monetary factors, earlier to market, earlier profit. Leaving in the ground for longer costs money.

That’s a good point Zoe65 about bulbs being eaten if you leave them unwrapped in your garage or shed. I keep mine in a couple of old biscuit tins until I plant them to stop it happening.

I have found round here in the south east of England,if you don’t buy in august or the early weeks of September you can’t get the bulbs as sold out especially tête-à-tête a tote daffy and the rockery type tulips.
Contrary to that,last year I bought them early,put them in our h garage (we live in a rural area)and found after a few months something has tried to eat them ,suspect mice .

Thank you for all the responses. On balance it seems that buy now and store them until the appropriate time would be best. As I have a new garden to create I do want to be selective about the ones I buy and obviously there’ll be more choice the earlier you buy.

Hetty I’ve never grown an allium yet. I’ve tried three times but nothing has ever come up. When I’ve dug in the area either the bulbs have just disappeared or just the outer shell is left. I can only assume there was some creature or other that snacked on alliums all winter long.

And speaking of winter, I spotted the first Chr*stmas magazine in a shop today! 😫

I plant in mid October too. If you plant too early they might come up blind, or too quickly. Planting before the heavy frosts begin seems about right.
Lots of mine are in pots and I leave them there and plant summer bedding plants above them. They don't seem to mind.

it also depends where you live, climate, altitude, etc.

Where I am, mid October would be best.

I just found some (Alliums) I bought last Autumn and forgot to plant - poor shrivelled, dehydrated shells now.

Daffs need to be planted reasonably early from September, but tulips not until much later. So, if you are not fussy as to type/colour etc it is worth waiting as you can get them up 50% cheaper by October.

paddyann54

You dont need to lift them "Casdon" my OH's cousin runs a large plant nursery and tells customers if they leave them in situ they'll get more flowers each year .

No, I meant the bulbs you buy in the garden centre have been lifted to be sold paddyann54.

You dont need to lift them "Casdon" my OH's cousin runs a large plant nursery and tells customers if they leave them in situ they'll get more flowers each year .

Bulbs are lifted once they have flowered, so it won’t make any difference to the quality of the bulb if you buy it now or in a few weeks time. The advantage of buying now is that you get the best choice before other people think about buying. I store mine in the shed once I have bought them, and plant daffodils and crocus at the end of September, and tulips after the first frost.

I pre order mine and plant them in October before the ground gets hard,we're 20 miles north of Glasgow.My late dad used to plant some in September then at 4 weekly intervals to give him a longer display .