What have you done in the garden today? Part 2

[ThreeRingCircus]

A continuation of the last thread.

After months of care and attention, watching, waiting and hoping, my dahlia are coming good and thick with buds. Some are in full flower. I feel pleased with my efforts. I've got dinner plates and pom-poms in an array of creams, pinks, reds and yellows. First time I've grown this many. They are very labour intensive but the rewards are worth it for the wow factor!

I've planted them in the section of border near our seating area where we have dinner whenever the weather allows. I need to give them some seaweed to keep them flowering.

lovely reading everyone's updates.

Ooh, how gorgeous! Only two of my dahlias have flowered so far. They were a mystery selection which came free with mail order, so it’s been fun waiting to see what they are.

Thank you 😊 That sounds the perfect size!

Am I right in thinking you said it was originally part of a fountain/water feature...or did I imagine that? I'm trying to find something that isn't silly money (saw some gorgeous reclaimed circular galvanised ones but they were £400+ 😯)

I'm envious too of your bargainicious plants @APurpleSquirrel as well as everyone's dahlias, something I've never tried growing. At the next house, perhaps.

Cute pupster (and gorgeous garden!) @catwithflowers!

@Bideshi - the absolute cheek of some people never fails to amaze me...love the idea of you channelling your inner dowager duchess!

Yesterday DH surprised me by bringing home several persicaria amplexicaulis Orange Field for the 'front' garden, which I'd been hoping to get but the local nursery had sold out. He ordered some and picked them up whilst visiting a client😇 They'll add another layer of colour/interest and hopefully (if the current dry spell continues) I'll get them planted after lunch.

Can I ask for some advice on some new dahlia tubers I ordered as a bargain recently? My Café au Lait dahlias arrived from Gardening Express looking very sad but I've planted them up into big pots and so far, 9 out of the 10 have sprouted new growth.

Obviously they won't do anything this year but how do I keep them for next? Is it okay just to leave them in their pots and put them in the greenhouse with some fleece if we get frost in the winter? And do I water the pots and if so how much water will they need? We grew dahlias last year for the first time and didn't bother to lift them, just left them in the beds, and about two thirds have survived.

All my dahlias are in big pots and I leave them in situ for the winter. If I’m feeling particularly kind, I’ll put a fleece cover over the pot (they’re really easy to make if you have a sewing machine). They’re slower to get going in the spring than if they’d been under cover, but I lack the space and energy for digging them up and storing them (whether dry or still in their pots) so it’s a compromise.

Ahh great thanks. And do you water them over the winter?

Sorry, I've just realised they will get watered by the rain like everything else 🙈😂

Yes, I think the rain might add to the failure rate - they sometimes rot away completely - and if I had a huge shed or greenhouse Monty’s garden, basically I’d probably things differently.

The missing verb there is do smacks forehead

Like you, a few of mine were a freeby when I bought some rhubarb crowns. They looked like the small flower variety so those have gone in pots which I've lined along the greenhouse for a splash of colour. I've also experimented with dahlia seeds this year which has been a novel experience. They've taken ages to grow.

The tubers in the border have been very slow to develop buds, I was beginning to lose hope. Only in the past 10 days have they pulled themselves together and started to work hard.

I have a lot of slugs so plant mine in the ground and dig them up once the foliage has been frost damaged. They usually survive just plonked upside down in the garage. I followed the advice of another Mumsnetter last year, and hosed off the soil on one. That was the only one that didn't survive.

Does anyone know of a dahlia that's the same colour as Cafe au Lait but smaller (& more) flowers?

@catwithflowers thats an interesting dahlia challenge!

Because you've planted them late in the season, there may not be enough weeks of summer temps and natural daylight for them to come on this year (but you never know!). I would give them a good drench with plant food (I tend to use Tomorite as a good all-rounder as it's got seaweed and other nutrients). A couple of doses spread over the coming weeks may well given them sufficient boost.

then, to your point, you could try putting them in the greenhouse in their pots, with all foliage and flowers cut off, protected with bubble wrap during the coldest temps but I'd beware (as previously posted) rot is the enemy of tubers, but equally so is desiccation (shrivelling and drying out). Keep the compost/soil slightly on the dry side of moist (or should that be the moist side of dry - they don't enjoy sitting in soggy or parched-dry compost when the temps are low, outside their growing season.

[Pallaver alert!] Last year I rinsed all mine off with the hose in October, let them dry off and then carefully stored them loosely wrapped in newspaper in ventilated crates (£3 in Wilco) and stacked them under the greenhouse staging where they stayed quite happily until March, when I started all over again (good success rate, I only lost 1 tuber out of 18) - I then added a further 20 from a B&Q sale so I've got my work cut out this autumn! It's time-consuming and a faff, but I quite enjoyed the experiment of seeing how many would survive. They're rewarding me now.

It was probably my advice, sorry about that!

If I left mine in our garage, they would be eaten by mice in no time 🐁 (I live rurally) so I have to keep them somewhere safe and the greenhouse is protected and tends to be warmer than the garage.

Brilliant, thanks for all the advice. I think I'll leave in pots, try not to overwater and put them in the greenhouse. I have some Tomorite so I'll water them with that over the next few weeks to see if it helps.
We are also rural so I think mice (or rats 😳) might get to them in the shed.

It was worth a punt on the dahlias at £1 each!!!

Here they are!!!

I have border collies@catwithflowers. They go 'Digging in the lawn, you say? Nope. Illogical and pointless. Pouncing on voles in the boss's special borders - now that's what we call fun. One day we might catch one....'

I dig my dahlias up and store them. We're probably mild enough to overwinter them in situ, but the wet will do for them. I turn the tubers upside down to drain for a day then pack them into those big polystyrene boxes that watercress comes in. I asked the greengrocer for some twenty years ago and am still using the same ones. I cover them loosely with whatever I've got - used potting compost mostly and leave them under the bench in the polytunnel or sometimes in the cellar. I'm not that fond of them and tend to corral them into the area we call The Autumn Garden rather than in the main garden. I do like 'Wizard of Oz' very much though, and I also like the Honka dahlias.
The tiger lilies are out but the Casablancas are not. So nearly though. There's quite a breeze and the weather forecast is pants. Oh well - it won't break my heart if we don't get many people. Next year I'm doing it for a Maggie's Centre in Dumfries so I'll want to go all out for that. The garden's looking very nice though I must say.
I wonder if Monty will keep those big greenhouses going now he's packing in GW. Those 'Gizmo'lilies' he's been photographed with were quite something although I noticed he'd defoliated them and I wondered if the dreaded lily beetle and struck.

Is Monty packing it in? Have I missed an announcement? It certainly feels as if we’re in transition, with other presenters getting more prominent roles.

@LibertyLily
I think it intended for a fountain, the proprietor ( Radway Bridge near Hereford) seemed surprised we were going to make it into a pond, but then agreed it was plenty big enough. It’s some sort of composite with a rubbery feel, grey so it goes well on the slate patio. It was £160. They might be able to give you a supplier 🙂

A riot of dahlia (made up collective noun )

I do concede @daisychain01 that there's nothing quite like them for cut flowers. That's a real high summer bouquet - lovely.

Thank you @Bideshi I think they epitomise the miracle of Mother Nature, don't they. The variety, the shapes and vibrant colours - how can the same looking tuber become small pom-poms or huge and spikey! Quite remarkable.

That’s gorgeous! I love the rich reds.

Sumptuous reds aren't they @ComeIntoTheGardenMaud There are some deep mauve and bright yellow ones that are just coming into flower. They've really brightened up the border!

To your point about Monty Don, @ComeIntoTheGardenMaud I did a bit of digging around after seeing your comment and I didn't pick up any hint of him hanging up his trowel just yet. He was quite poorly about 10 or so years ago, but seems to have recovered well. Hopefully he has many more seasons still, he has such a soothing and calming air about him,

Waterlilies