Dahlias

[Prudie]

Any of you particularly in the know about growing dahlias? 2 years ago I bought 2 of the large showy bloom types. Last year and this they have both behaved the same, grown to about 3-4 feet with one thick stem and lots of foilage. One produced 1 large flower only (this year and last) and the other hasn't flowered at all with no sign of bud.
They use up a lot of space so should i give up or is there a remedy? Both in sunny bed.

[rowanwitch]

High potash feed, might be a bit late now but worth a try Flowerite is fairly cheap...

[carlton23]

Give them a drink of Tomato Feed only 99p from 99p Stores.

[foxyferret]

Maybe they were not pinched out when they were small plants. When I plant them I always put plenty of manure in the hole and scatter bone meal around them. As the others said, high potash feed is always good for flowering. They also like loads of water, I do mine every day if its dry as I have 2 water butts.

[Prudie]

Thanks for all your answers and I will give them some potash. I wondered about the pinching out but have never done that with dahlias I admit because they usually come through the ground on several shoots.

[coccinelle]

If you burn wood in the fireplace over winter use this to scatter on the garden (during the winter is fine) and you'll notice a big difference in the amount of flowers you get.