Dahlia jobs in May

All your plants should be in 5 inch / 125 mm pots by the middle of May.  Stop plants when 5 to 6 inches, 125 mm 150 mm, tall or after 4 -5 pairs of leaves depending on the number of main flowering stems you wish to have.  Plants, whether seedlings or cuttings, should now be in your cold house or frame hardening off; do protect from frost!, if real chill threatens a fleece covering will do a great job.

Take any late cuttings should you need to produce more plants.  These will grow on but not begin flowering until, probably, mid-August but will consequently go on longer if there are no frosts in late October / early November. Keep your hygiene programme going.

In the south and south-west start planting out dahlia plants when the weather is suitable and there seems to be no risk of a late frost.  As things are at present with the weather I anticipate beginning the planting out around the 3rd weekend in May.

Nursery Update

Back in January I posted a video clip of the nursery, - http://bit.ly/lyeK6i - that showed it to be a bit overgrown!

I weed killed in March and the first picture shows the results, this is the "before" cultivating last week.

I under estimated the hardness of the ground and over estimated the capability of the rotavator;  result, instead of taking two days it took four.  Still; job done!  See below

Could do with some rain on it now before planting out begins, probably around 3rd weekend in May.

Rooted cuttings preparing for dispatch

We are now in our busy period of packing and dispatch.

We put rooted cuttings in polythene sleeves before packing in the cartons.

 Here are rooted cuttings in the propagating trays before being transferred to the polythene sleeves.

Now in polythene sleeve ready to be packed into the carton.

Both rooted cuttings and the more mature ex 90mm pot plants are packed tightly into the carton and air pillows/bubble wrap is used to fill the voids to prevent any movement during transit.  

Rooted cuttings are sent by Royal Mail in flat cartons.  Plants are sent by next day delivery courier in larger, but essentially flat, cartons.

Just heard that one package sent on April 7th by Royal Mail First Class recorded delivery still hasn't arrived, they say "Your item is still in transit"; words fail me.

Demand for Dahlias

Demand for dahlias appears to be up this year.  I have already sold out of a number of cultivars and, speaking with other growers around the country, they seem to be in a similar situation.

Another pointer to the increasing popularity of the dahlia!

Alternatively, of course, it could just be that many dahlia lovers have now checked their tubers and found them to be damaged beyond redemption by the severe weather in November and December!