Divide and Conquer!

So today, I started dividing my tubers. Just the ones from my itty bitty home garden.....but even with only 40 plants, that gives me a BUNCH of bunches to dig, wash, divide, label and store. The digging is probably the easiest part of the whole process, as long as you make sure to leave a good margin around each plant before digging. I remember the first time I dug tubers for Dad at the Russell Street garden. He told me to go out from the plant 6-8 inches, in order to get the clump of tubers out of the ground without cutting them or breaking them off. I was less than successful on my early attempts, regularly finding the bright creamy white inside of the tuber still in the ground as I lifted out the dirt-laden stem. As years have gone by I have learned to make certain I go out 8 inches, using a spading fork, as far into the ground as it will go, and then lift around and under the plant to loosen the soil, then repeat that action until all sides around the plant have been loosened. Then carefully lift the plant, holding on to the base of the stem while at the same time pushing up from under the plant with the fork. Gently....so as not to leave tubers in the ground. Remove dirt carefully with your hands, or slowly rotate the clumb back and forth so loose dirt can fall off. I place the clumps in my mesh wagon, and when it is full, I head over to where the hose is, put the nozzle on, and start rinsing off the remaining dirt. I have a pointy tool-thing, looks kind of like Captain Hook's hook-hand, that I use to pry out dirt and rocks that don't immediately loosen with the water jet.Nothing like having the right tool for the job! When the clumps are adequately cleaned, I set them on a makeshift draintable, topped with a wire-mesh surface that allows the water to drain off the tuber clumps. I let them dry overnight, at least 12 hours, before starting to divide.

I only managed to divide about 5 clumps today, as it started to rain outside where I was working. I was able to determine that the tuber that produced my seedling, Maggie, was one that grew from the tuber that my sister Vicki got last year when she planted some seeds that Dad had left in his desk before he died. Last year, when she planted these, they did not produce a flower, but they did make some little baby fingerling tubers. We replanted those this year, and got Maggie, and another pretty fair golden-colored ID BB, which I haven't really named yet (although I have a working name, Autumn, since it didn't bloom until well into the Fall). We have enough of these 2nd year tubers to get quite a number of plants next year, if the tubers winter well. Keep your fingers crossed!

I have bunches of tubers from other seeds I planted this year, but I don't know what they are going to do in the coming years. I will plant some of them next year, and see if anything worthwhile blooms in year two. Gotta get down to Big R to buy some more pine shavings for storing these tubers, as well as the rest of the prolific clumps yielded by my garden. As you can imagine, I have my work cut out for me for the next few days! Oh, and then, sisters Debbie and Vicki and I will be going to Russell Street to dig the 4 beds there.......And the fun will repeat itself all over again!