Summertime the path from our front gate to the front door is a jungle of dahlias, because they are spectangularly colourful and less dangerous and prickle-fingery to deadhead than roses.

Of course, dahlias grow like weeds, and need thinning out from time to time. I try to lift all of them every couple of years, and discard most of the massive crop of tubers they have grown, and then replant the remainder in spring. And, because it is a bitch of a job, and I am no longer a twenty-something market garden worker, I try to do one side of the pathway one year, and the other the other… (Could get trapped in that sentence forever.)

I have no idea why, I lifted both sides this year, and my summary of the process of replanting is:

OUCH!!