Dahlia query UK

[Michelle41]

hello my fellow gardening geeks, I've really gotten into gardening this year as my other half made me some large planters out of our old Decking, So I toddled off and bought loads of plants to fill one of them and in the other I am growing cucumbers for the first time to. With Dwarf Dahlia to the front. The cucumbers are doing great. No greenhouse grown from seeds in propagator then planted in when about 10 inches tall. Have fruits on them now between 4-6 inches long.

Anyways. My question is. How do I know when the Dahlias are finished for the season, and how do I go about storing them for next years planting out?

Thank you.

Ps. I just want to say, the pic is for the dwarf Dahlias not the wilted cucs, lol. I did query why they were withering but found out that I needed to basically drown them with water. And I can't find the better pic :)

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[Michelle41]

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[John McGaw]

I did not venture an answer because you seemed specifically to want some special UK information and I've never grown them there. I can say that in the rest of the world's temperate regions, one usually waits until the first killing frost but before the soil freezes to dig and store tubers in a cool darkish location with good air circulation (I always hung mine in mesh onion bags in the cellar).

[Steve Peek]

My wife saves the tubers as John suggested, but in my part of the world it's really not necessary. Dwarf dahlias will bloom from seed if started inside a bit early.

[Michelle41]

Thank you John and Steve 😊

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[Fran Farmer]

A partial Ditto from me. I don't live in the UK or grow dahlias there either but I too wait for them to be hit by frost before I either dig them up and store over winter in sawdust inside a polystyrene box under cover, or, the more usual thing I do is to just leave them in the ground and divide them the next spring, or more usually, just let them grow up the next spring undivided. Mind you, I live in a much drier climate than the UK and so don't have to worry about rot over winter. I do get very savage frosts through winter (down as far as -9 degrees C sometimes) and that doesn't seem to worry the dahlias left in the ground.

BTW Michelle, you may be posting through gardenbanter but this group is an international group not just a UK one and most of us post directly to usenet groups and we don't use gardenbanter.