Trust Yourself. You know how to do this.

When to follow expert garden advice or trust your own.

"If you stay close to nature, to its simplicity, to the small things hardly noticeable, those things can unexpectedly become great and immeasurable”  - Rainer Maria Rilke

Dahlia ‘ Cafe au Lait’

Hello Everyone.

I'm new to the world of dahlias. Kitchen gardens are my niche, and flowers are secondary. So, when it came time to dig up my tubers last fall and again today, I searched for advice online, in books, and by asking friends. There was no "right" way, it seemed, so I had to choose one and go with it. Experimentation is the only way to find your own right way.

Like most gardeners and anyone with a curious mind—which I attribute to most gardeners—I sought advice from several sources and then figured out my method. It is how I learned to cook, and as a new gardener, I will follow the advice of experts for a few years until I feel confident doing it my way. However, when it comes to dahlias, the stakes feel high. I am reluctant to lose my whole crop.

My garden style is a hybrid form of gardening that comes from knowing enough to get by, following sage advice, and being willing to let the plants go if they fail. That first winter, I was wildly successful with storing my dahlia tubers, laying them between a soft bed of leaves and hay with some soil still attached. The instructions called for wood chips or sawdust; however, I had neither and used what I had.

(It's here that I'd like to rant about the insanity of blowing and bagging leaves – nature's natural compost, but hopefully, you already know this. Leaves contain magical powers for gardeners (and insects) and when it comes to layering dahlias, mulching new garlic beds, or insulation in a cold frame, they can't be beat.)

I should have honored my first year's success and followed the same method. Yet, being new to Dahlia growing and storing, I sought the experts' advice to show me the way. But it was wrong. Instead of leaving soil clinging to the tubers as I had done previously, I hosed them off to loosen the soil, allowed them to dry, and then packed them in the same layering method with leaves and hay. But come spring, more than half had rotted.

I know how to store winter vegetables in a root cellar. For years, as self-sufficient homesteaders and market gardeners in Vermont, everything we grew was planted for year-round eating. All the winter carrots, potatoes, beets, and onions were kept in a root cellar with the soil intact. Soil serves as a protective shell, keeping the vegetables moist inside.

Dahlia tubers are no different. They are natural breathing organisms that are pulled from the earth and left to go dormant. This year, I am packing the Dahlias with soil still clinging to the tubers because this stimulates the feeling of being underground. It might not be the “right way,” I’d love to hear your method.

As an author and garden writer, I am full of advice. This is the only way I can write a book with some authority, and I'll continue to advocate that growing organic food truly matters.  But I can only speak from what I know and what has worked for me. When I can’t figure it out, I’ll ask a plant and sit quietly for the answer. After all, we are all connected by the earth. Breathe in, breathe out with love and patience.

From my garden to yours,

Ellen Ecker Ogden

"Our task is to take this earth so deeply and wholly into ourselves that it will resurrect within our being."― Rainer Maria Rilke

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