The diversity of colour and form makes dahlias a popular choice for both the garden and the show bench. In the summer months they create stunning displays in borders and containers until the first frosts puts them to sleep for the winter. Throughout the growing season, hidden from view, they are securing the future for the next generation by creating energy stores in the form of tubers, from which next year’s blooms will erupt. These jewels, are what we dahlia growers lovingly lift from the ground in the autumn months, wash and pamper through the winter and wake up gently in the spring to commence the new season’s colour.
Like me, most dahlia growers end up with far more tubers than they actually need. Those of us who grow seedlings in the pursuit of the next cup winning variety, produce vast numbers of plants. The odds of discovering a promising new cultivar from this method are generally very slim, which leaves the grower with a large number of tubers to dispose of, if the plants are left growing the full season. Even the tubers that are used for cuttings, or are split to produce the next year’s blooms, there are often still tubers left over that are surplus to requirements. So what else can be done with potential food source other than composting or taking to the tip?
Since buying a small farm in 2020 and starting to get livestock in, one thing has become very apparent, very quickly and that was, over the winter months, the grass doesn’t grow much and the animals still need feeding. Other food sources must now come into play and these have a significant financial cost. Having lifted all tubers before Christmas and selected all those we wanted to store for the next season, we were left with a large pile of potential animal food in the barn. We had 10 hens locked down because of bird flu. These were normally free range, so were getting bored being confined to a stable and were getting through twice the food they normally would as they had no access to natural forage. We had given them the odd cabbage to peck at, which had kept them amused so I tried one of the dahlia tubers. It was an instant hit and within the hour we were just left with a tough stalk. This became a daily routine until the tubers ran out. We have since given them the tuber clumps post taking cuttings and they were enjoyed in a similar fashion.
In addition to hens, we have four hungry goats. In the summer months they browse the hedges and occasionally graze the paddock. In fact, they are superb at clearing overgrown areas of brambles, which is great, as the previous occupants of the farm certainly left plenty of them. What they don’t eat they trample and have been a great asset in helping manage the hedges. But only in the summer months, when leaves are on the trees and things are growing. Come winter we have four mouths to feed with Goat mix and hay, neither of which come for free. In addition to dahlias, we grow most of the vegetables we need throughout the year and generate a fair amount of plant waste beet tops, brassica leaves, stalks etc. which could be composted or as we found, fed to goats as a mixture in their daily “goat salad”. With this daily routine I started to introduce chopped dahlia tubers into the mix and this was well received and again provided a useful disposal route for excess tubers whilst reducing feed costs. All this got me thinking. Next year we plan to get some pigs. If I have plot of dahlia seedlings and have removed the ones I’m interested in for future propagation, I’m sure the pigs would like to spend some time on it, hoovering up what’s left. I wouldn’t even have to dig them up. Dahlia-pig rotation, maybe I’ve got something here? I’ll let you know how it goes.