Gardener shares plant job to do now so they are ‘ready to flower’ in spring (Image: Getty)
The beautiful Dahlia of summer into autumn have died back with recent frosts, so now is the time to lift the Dahlia tubers before the winter season sets in and the ground hardens.
Dahlia tubers can rot in waterlogged ground so by lifting and storing them we protect them so we can plant and grow them again next springtime.
Dahlia tubers should be gently lifted with a garden fork, as we don’t want to slice them into pieces with a spade.
We want to lift the tubers as a single root balls opposed to split tubers.
Once we have lifted Dahlia tubers we should give them a thorough wash to get as much of the grit and soil off.
Once cleaned they should be hung up in a greenhouse or garage for a few days to dry.
Once the Dahlia tubers are dry we should wrap into newspaper and place into a cardboard box.
The box should be stored into a dry place in the greenhouse or garage. We need to avoid the box becoming damp, wet and frozen.
This is called overwintering, and once winter is over we can get the tubers out and plant them in springtime ready to grow and flower again.
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