SPOTLIGHT ON: SAVING BULBS

Are you a chucker or a saver? Some people are quite happy to dump old dahlias, begonia tubers and other frost-tender summer bulbs and buy new next year.

But real gardeners find it hard to abandon perfectly good plants, particularly when it’s easy to keep them.

Begonias are no trouble. If they’re being grown in pots, reduce watering when the plants stop producing new flowers. When the leaves turn yellow and the stems snap off, the tubers are fully dormant.

Dwarf gladioli, eucomis and tigridia are even easier.

Wait for late-flowering kinds to finish, leave them a week or two for the leaves to die down, then cut any remaining foliage and flower stems off just above the tops of the bulbs and dry them off ready to store.

Paper bags in the spare room are best, or spread them out in stacking plastic trays in a frost-free shed or garage. Pick them over regularly and take out any that are starting to rot.

Leave dahlias outdoors until the first serious frost turns foliage black, then cut the whole lot down to six inches above the ground and dig up the tubers.

Brush off the soil, then lay the tubers in the sun to dry before storing them away in plastic stacking trays or “hammocks” of garden netting strung up in the shed roof.

Now that winters are milder you may wonder if you can get away with leaving slightly tender bulbs and tubers outside.

In a mild garden it’s worth taking the risk with dahlias, dwarf gladioli and even cannas. A thick mulch of bark, compost or manure will help to insulate them.