Obviously a bit of a quiet month but well worth inspecting the tubers and removing any that are diseased or broken. When storing the tubers it is so important to keep them away from any moisture, especially the stem. Pack in a dry, fibrous compost - dare I say peat :( - and keep in a dry, frost free place.
December is a good time to consider next year's planting plan and getting your order in to your nurseryman as most will dispatch in the order that they are received and it is so helpful to the nurseryman to know what the likely requirements are going to be.
Our own tubers are now well on the way to being dried, we shall be cleaning and trimming in a week or so ad preparing the benches to begin propagating in early January. Starting early enable us to have very well established plants for early planting giving us an early start to the cut flower season. We then have late batches of plants prolonging our cut flower season as those later planted later obviously are well behind the early ones. These, by the end of September will have produced up to 20 blooms each so are getting weaker producing blooms that are not to the quality we are happy sending to New Covent Garden Flower Market.
