Hello friends of the garden!

We have had a glorious week of sunshine with mild temperatures, at least for our corner of the world.

As for my Southern family and friends, you would beg to differ.

Once our snow begins to melt we think it’s Summer!

Dave and I have spent so much time outdoors this past week walking, plotting and planning on how to speed up Dahlia growth.

Three Methods for Growing Dahlias

Dahlias are a remarkable plant that produces beautiful and lush blooms during late June through the first frost of the growing season.

I am smitten with them, so naturally I want to share information on how to grow them, so you can grow them too!

Dahlias will grow from tubers, seeds or cuttings

1 Tubers- (clones of the parent plant.) They have the same beautiful characteristics-predictable and uniform.
2 Seeds (seeds from the dahlia plant are unpredictable.) They are unique and gloriously beautiful too.
3 Cuttings (clip a dahlia stem from the mother plant remove the bottom leaves and plant in moist well drained soil.

How to grow Dahlias

1-Select a sunny spot with good drainage. If you are planting your dahias directly into the ground amend soil with a high quality compost, a handful of bonemeal and perilite.
2-Dahlias grow very well in pots, use a high quality potting mix, a scant handful of bonemeal and perilite.
3-To plant a tuber directly into the ground or a container dig a 4 inch hole, with eye facing up, cover tuber with soil.
4-To plant a rooted cutting or sprouted seedling dig a small hole and plant as you would any other annual.
5-Dahlias prefer a consistent temperature and temperate climates. Dahlias do not thrive in extreme cold or extreme heat and humidity.
6-Dahlias require consistent and uniform watering, a drip irrigation system works well.
7-Once dahlias are 10 inch tall give the center stem a hard pinch of about 3 inches. This encourages lower growth and more blooms.
8-Check with you local extension office for your first and last frost date.

Where I grow my Dahlias

I grow my dahlias in raised beds and in containers in our greenhouse, where I can control their environment.

We are prone to unexpected hail, sleet, and snowstorms even in early July.

Last year I grew Cafe au Lait and Miranda Mickayla Dahila in outdoor raised beds and they thrived.

Fortunately we dodged severe weather so all of our outdoor blooms had a great season.

Where our Growing begins.

I had originaly planned on using the flower cottage for propagation.

The flower cottage has electricity and electric heaters.

Well, Mother nature naturally had a different plan for using the cottage and greenhouse during the winter.

During the Winter months we get such high winds that the snow drifts from the house to the cottage to the greenhouse get too big and high to navigate through the snow.

So, Dave and I moved the gro-lights and cottage shelving to the basement where I am able to start growing early in the season in our basement.