Growing Dahlias

While many people think dahlias are a pain to care for, the absolute joy of them when in full bloom makes them worth it.

They are absolutely the star of the summer show in my opinion and that’s all down to the vast array of varieties available to us.

So where does it start?

Spring or Autumn? Spring when you’re ready to plant… perhaps you’re just received new tubers in the post or picked some up from your local garden centre …. Or Autumn when you’re considering whether you should dig them up or leave them in situ?

Since it’s May 1st, let’s assume you’ve got a lovely new package of dahlia tubers. In my case, I have bought new varieties this year to trial them for stem strength and how many blooms they’ll give me across the summer. And yes I do keep track of that!

My stored tubers come out of crates in early March so that I can pot some up and take cuttings but that’s for another blog on another day.

For now, we’ll concentrate on potting up.

Using damp/ moist compost get a pot that suits the size of your tuber clump.

If there’s an old stalk you can leave that sitting just above the compost. You do not need to water. I actually keep about 80 in my kitchen in front of huge glass siding doors and underfloor heating.

Some of them will pop a sprout up really quickly while others, well I know they are there because I’ve had a little dig, will take forever. Do not keep watering but if the compost feels really dry then give the compost a mist.

You can then of course start to take cuttings but besides this we now have to consider when your last frost is. Here in my part of Cheshire it’s the 8th of May and while I have some dahlias planted in my polytunnel I’ll be ready to plant out next week. Yes!!! I’m so damn excited to get my babies in the ground.

I mix a little fish, blood and bone fertiliser with some compost before I pop the tubers in the ground.

I’d like to say that I had a great success rate with storage this winter but truly there’s been a few crates thrown on the compost heap which is really upsetting.

I’m just going to have to live with that but then I’ve had some nice surprises when fixing some of my beds for annuals this year when I’ve come across a few tubers I missed at digging up time!

I’ll take that as a win!

More posts to come re cuttings and propagation along with previous year Dahlias grown from seed and the results I’ve had from them.