Why I Oughta...

Late last year, I dug-up and attempted to store a number of dahlia tubers that had been in our beds all year-long.  This was the first time I had grown dahlias (in the ground) and also the first time that I attempted to "save" the tubers from one-season-to-the-next.   In this post from last December, I showed how I ended up using the "Saran Wrap Method" to attempt to preserve the tubers over Winter .  I dug up clumps of tubers, let them dry out just a little bit, left most of the soil on them then wrapped them and left them in the garage where the temps *usually* stay above freezing all Winter.   With Dahlia planting season fast-approaching (I have to wait until last Frost date to plant them - which is right around mid-May), I grabbed the box of tubers and went to check to see how they did?  Were they rotten?  Dried out and dead?   Turns out...neither.   They not only survived the Winter.  But....most of them were ALREADY ...

2024 was the season of the dahlia in our garden.  And, it is also going to be the 'season of trying to save the dahlia tuber'.   We garden in Zone 6a/5b.  That changed earlier this year when our neighborhood (yes...neighborhood) was reclassified from USDA Zone 5B to Zone 6A.  I wrote a post about that change earlier this year and talked about how less than a mile away, the listing was kept at 5B, but our spot was upgraded to 6A. According to Longfield Gardens , you can overwinter dahlia tubers in Zone 8 to Zone 10, which means that our climate is far too cold to keep these tubers in the ground from freezing to death.   That means that I'm faced with a choice:  dig them up and try to save them.  Or...leave them in the ground and (VERY LIKELY) lose them to Winter.  I say "VERY LIKELY" because....there's a TINY chance that the tubers survive our Winter due to one (or more) of a couple of variables:  We *could* get a very mild Winter....