barb molera and I'm with the company
harvesting history we're an upstate New
York
heirloom horticultural company that
specializes in seeds flowers flower
bulbs tubers onion sets etc today we're
going to be talking about growing
dahlias in containers and I have to warn
you ahead of time dahlias are one of my
favorite plants rule number one about
dahlias and any other container plants
that we talk about in the course of our
harvesting history videos is make sure
you have the right size this is a 14
inch diameter pot and this is the right
size pot for one Dahlia now I know my
gardeners and they'll say oh I can fit
two in here no you cannot fit two in
this pot one Dahlia in a fourteen inch
diameter container so when you show me
this I'm going to say no when you show
me this size pot I'm going to say no
when you show me this I'm gonna say
don't even think about it this is the
pot you need for one Dahlia - okay the
second thing you have to consider is
soil and for the last 12 years we've
been working on a project to figure out
what the best soil mix is for containers
and we believe that it's not actually
that difficult it's about 60% topsoil to
40% peat moss we've had tremendous
success over years and years with this
mixture so I highly recommend it the
other thing I highly recommend is this
product if you live in the south I'm
envious of the people that live in the
south who can get there
on swanee River topsoil it is a great
product for container gardening the
consistency of the soil is just the
right consistency just the right
heaviness so if you live in the south
and your garden center carries this
you're one lucky garden ok so what we do
with our pot that's going to hold my
dear gardeners one Dahlia we're going to
take the mix and we're going to fill the
pot a little over halfway full
flatten it out just gently and then
we're gonna begin to plant our Dahlia
most values today are packed in plastic
or something like a plastic bag and you
get one to two dahlias per bag when you
open up the bag what you are looking for
with each Dahlia is last year's stem
this is last year stem when you find
last year's stem you take it and you're
going to arrange the tubers around the
stem and put the plant in the pot I
gently ease the Dahlia into the pot and
now I'm going to cover the whole thing
including the tip of the stem with more
soil mix now now that I have the Dahlia
tuber positioned in the pot I'm going to
sprinkle a little bit of time to release
blossom booster fertilizer around the
tuber and I'm going to fill the pot the
rest of the way covering the dal you
tuber completely with the soil mix we're
about to bury my little guy
you want there's nothing magical about
this maybe an inch a half an inch two
inches of soil on top of the tuber and
then I put a little bit more
slow-release blossom booster fertilizer
on it I think everybody should grow
dahlias one because they're so
incredibly easy to grow too because they
produce the most magnificent blossoms
but three because in the fall when
everything else has been wiped out by a
mild frost that Dahlia will continue to
bloom and bloom and bloom until a
wickedly hard frost finally cuts it down
it is the most on the most forgiving
plant I know of when it comes to
blooming in the fall and it's a treat
most people will have dahlias on their
Thanksgiving table throughout this
country except for the ones in baby zone
4 and zone 3 so give a Dahlia a chance
this spring try one either in a
container or in your garden you won't be
sorry that you did