Summer returned gloriously, but briefly, now it's catch up time. Last year having lost all dahlia tubers stored in the shed, I fell for every value advert, now I have rather a lot! Some have only just started to flower, so there were some interesting combinations, not all to my liking. To remedy this I have taken a bloom, held it against established beds, to see where it would look best, (you can do this with other perennials), before actually moving them. Autumn, when the soil is still warm, is a good time to move plants.

Now we have had some frost, the dahlias have been cut down, dug out and dry soil removed, sulphur puffed over the tubers, and dry newspaper wrapped around them. A label stating colour, height and next year's position, is tied around the 4 inch (approx.) stem and placed upside down. To save space, I have bought six shoe hangers - each has six compartments - and hang them from the garage roof. They are nice and airy and will fold down to nothing next year. Hopefully they will work.

The tubers that did overwinter were the ones left in the ground. They had a nice duvet over them! A good layer of well rotted compost and on top of that an unopened bag of horse manure, turned occasionally to remove any hibernating slugs and snails.

The 'big sweep' is in progress, in conjunction with emptying the compost bins and leaf boxes, - beware sweeping up the ash keys or a forest of ash results the following spring. Life's too short!