The annual dilemma. To lift, or not to lift, that is the question!
Very often, at this time of year, social media gardening forums are full of questions about overwintering dahlia tubers. I love dahlias and have grown them for many years. They are great value for money, have almost unrivalled flower power, particularly if regularly deadheaded, and come in every different size, shape, style and colour, including their foliage. BUT, what is the best way to keep the tubers from turning to mush over winter? Leave them in the ground and hope? Leave them in the ground, mulch them and hope? Lift them and wash them, don’t wash them, dry them upside down in a warm room, a greenhouse, a shed. Or just pot them up and keep them in the shed or garage? I have tried them all and can honestly say that I don’t know a sure-fire way of getting them through the winter with 100% success. It depends on many factors!
So, I am trying something new! This week, I have dug mine up, washed most of the soil off (they were wet anyway!), dried them upside down for a few days on the greenhouse staging covered over with fleece, and then placed them in big pots filled with Strulch mineralised straw. It is recommended to use vermiculite, newspaper or compost, but as I had an open bag of Strulch which is dry and inert I think it should do the job well. The pots are now in the shed under two layers of fleece which should keep them dry and frost free. It may or may not work, but it is no better or worse than other methods I have tried!
This Green Woodpecker is a regular visitor, mainly due to the number of resident ants in our lawn. He was there for over an hour on Thursday, poking his long beak into the grass and sucking up his sparse meal. How such a large and beautiful bird survives on a diet of ants I don’t know.
Side shoots doing well on the Sweet Peas. Growth will slow down dramatically now that the colder temperatures have arrived. They will just sit there and ride out the winter without any further attention.
The messy greenhouse is now full, mostly of Tradescantia hybrid seedlings I am hoping will produce interesting, and potentially new cultivars in the coming years. They are totally hardy but don’t like to get too wet so they will avoid the worst of the weather in the cold greenhouse.
Talking of unique and interesting cultivars, this is a Chrysanthemum rescued from my Grandad’s garden when he died in 1987. I have tried to find it’s name but to no avail. So, I offered it to a local nursery who kindly named it after my Grandad. Chrysanthemum ‘George Simons’ is now in their catalogue and is apparently very popular, just like he was!
It’s been too cold for any real gardening this week, just weeding, mulching and digging up dahlias! Stay warm and have a great weekend.
David
Davids Garden Diary 
I managed to dig up my dahlias, but haven’t done anything else. I should pot them up or bag them in compost, but it’s too blooming cold out there at the moment…
Time is running short to get them cleaned up and put away somewhere dry for the winter. But in what??
I shall put mine in dry compost, in plastic bags…
I have 350 dahlias so all those in borders have to stay in with a mulch. Lost three last year so not bad. The other 30 in pots are out, washed and in boxes of newspaper. Fingers crossed for us all 🤞
Wow! 350 dahlias! What a sight that must be! No wonder you leave them and mulch them, Interesting that you do wash the ones that come out of pots, this was one of the things that intrigued me. Why do you wash them?? Are you just trying to get rid of soil or other things too?
Hello, I wash them slightly, just so I can see if they are damaged or diseased. I don’t do a thorough wash though. I also shake and brush them first so that worms and other wildlife can toddle off.
I dig my dahlias, brush off the soil, leave them to dry, then put them in a box with sawdust or newspaper and pop them in the garage. It works – mostly!
Lovely story behind the Chrysanthemum.
I’m in the “leave them in the ground and hope” brigade. I’ve lost very few and I’m not sure it’s cold has killed those that didn’t come back. The Chrsanth isn’t just interesting, it’s a stunner, especially if it’s looking like that now.
Sorry to disappoint but the Chrysanth pic was from last September! There doesn’t seem to be an answer to suit everyone on dahlia tubers. I have researched the subject extensively and there are a lot of contradictory views, both in the Uk and the US, It seems very location and soil type dependent.
Love the photo of the green woodpecker, they come to the garden here but don’t stay long enough to have their photo taken, maybe I don’t have enough ants!
It was here again today in the pouring rain. He stayed for half an hour until something scared him away but he must still be finding ants to eat, despite the rain!
I love the woodpecker, you’re lucky to have such an interesting bird to visit. And I especially love the story about the chrysanth, that’s wonderful.
Thank you Helen, my Grandad would be very pleased it has been saved.
Congrats on your family mum. Very special indeed.
Hi Marsha. Nice to hear from you. Hope you have enjoyed your garden this year. After a dreadful winter with terrible losses due to a prolonged cold period, we actually had a good year with spectacular roses, fruit crops and less bugs. My Tradescantia Collection seemed to thrive too. Email me sometime and let me know more about your activities. Best wishes, David
Good luck with your dahlias! Love your grandfather’s chrysanthemum, what an amazing colour! Well worth saving. 🌸🌼 Love your woodpecker! I always enjoy a greenhouse shot, they are such exciting places to beaver away at things!
Fingers crossed for your dahlias! Last year I just dried/cured/wrapped them in newspaper and tossed them in the root cellar. That felt like far too much effort so this year I kept them all in sunken pots and then pulled those at the end of the season and tossed them into the root cellar. Guess we’ll find out how that worked out in the spring. Strulch sounds interesting — don’t think they have it out here, but would love to give it a try if it really does keep the slugs at bay. Never seen a green woodpecker before… we only have the black and whites here — it almost looks like a little dinosaur!
Maybe the makers of Strulch haven’t got round to export yet, probably due to the fact that the EU now hate us and make everything so damned difficult!
I will let you know how the dahlias get on next year when they are started back into growth…if they survive!