Gardening: Delightful dahlias.. but don't plant them yet | Brian Kidd

Perhaps you have not bought any for a long time or you may be waiting for the warmer weather before you buy them?

Take a look online (you’ll have to at the moment) and with a bit of luck you might still find exactly what you would love to grow.

Have a careful look at the pictures, find the colour you like best BUT, and this is important, make sure you check how big it will grow. My dad always told me that 30cm was about a foot and he was not wrong! Make sure you buy the dahlia which is ideal for your garden.

It's not a good idea to plant them straight into the garden at the moment as we are still having frosts. And if the weather of the past couple of weeks is anything to go by, we’re going to have some more.

If you want to plant them in the garden please wait until the last week of April and even then ensure you have at least three inches of soil over the tubers because dahlia shoots are very tender and will be quickly and easily damaged if we have a frost.

A much better idea is to put the tubers into moist compost in a pot or tray and give the tubers a good drink of water.

Then make sure you write its name on a garden label together with the height to which it is expected to grow.

Make sure they are planted in compost (not garden soil) and in a place where the frost won’t kill off the shoots which will emerge from the tubers.

Do you like to take cuttings to increase your plant stock?

Well, keep the tubers in a warm place and after watering the little shoots will gradually appear.

Now take a sharp knife and cut off a shoot about two inches long with a little bit of tuber attached.

Insert the cutting in a mixture of Universal potting compost with about 50 per cent extra sand and pop the cuttings into a pot.

Put the cuttings around the edge of the pot and they will root in about three weeks.

Once the cuttings have rooted, plant each one in a three-inch pot and when the pots are full of roots they can be planted out into the garden. Don't forget the labels: variety, name and height.

The safe date to plant dahlias is after May 21… if you live over the hill.

I don't know if you keep a special eye open for the weather but we had three fogs during March here at Waterlooville which means there could be three frosts in May.

The frosts won't be severe in Portsmouth but over the hill and in low areas, a frost in May can cause a lot of damage because early morning sun after frost scorches tender plants.

Make sure you have some horticultural fleece or old curtains ready to cover those tender plants.

I had a pleasant surprise this morning. The seeds of canna I had sown exactly a month ago have started​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ to germinate. Summer really can’t be too far away...​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

THIS WEEK’S TOP TIP

Please ensure the birds have clean drinking water. There are lots of babies around now and their mums will need to show them how to drink and bathe.