Dahlias – star of the summer (part 2 of 2)

Dahlias love the sun and they like moisture and lots of feed so it pays to dig in plenty of compost or well-rotted manure before planting. A mulch of manure will help keep them growing if we get a dry spell in August too.

There are just two pests you may come across – or that may come across your dahlias. The first is slugs and snails that will attack the succulent stems as soon as they appear through the soil. You need to protect against them all season. Then the flowers are sometimes attacked by earwigs. Missing petals are sometimes the result of caterpillars too but earwigs are the usual suspects.

But dahlias also attract more attractive insects and the single-flowered kinds, including most of the dwarf, bedding kinds that are easy to grow from seed, are popular with bees and butterflies, bringing even more colour and beauty into the garden.

Did you miss part one of “Dahlias – star of the summer”?

Dahlias – the star of the summer (part 1 of 2)

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Post written by our resident gardening guru Geoff Stebbings from www.thebikinggardener.com