Digging up dahlias

This year the dry autumn has encouraged me to dig up my dahlia patch for some reorganisation and rejuvenation.

Historically the advice was to dig up dahlias every year and to store the tubers in a frost-free shed until replanting the following late spring. Latterly we have been having much milder winters and – with the protection of a hefty layer of straw, mulch and plastic – the tubers have generally survived the winter in the ground and resprouted in situ. 

Dahlias growing earlier this summer

Digging them all up has been quite a job. The tubers have become very big and heavy, and they are taking up a large proportion of my shed at the moment. They are packed – strictly labelled – into boxes with scrunched up newspaper, having been dried off under cover for a couple of weeks. Over the winter I will keep an eye out for any mouse damage or rotten tubers and then replant them in the spring.

The empty field