First Step: Dig-Out begins with Diggers
Top from left: Mike Dietz from Boise, ID; Tinnee on the Hillside; Erik Gaensler with volunteers from One Brick
Bottom from left: Erik and John Dale; Nicholas Gaensler learns; Lou Lombardo moves extricated clumps into flats; Dick and Barbara did the same.
Second Step: First Wash. Getting rid of the soil
with rainman Craig and on-site Deborah
Third Step: Transport to the Workshop
thanks to Bob and his pick-up
Fourth Step: Arriving at the Workshop, the tubers get a thorough rinse before they are divided
Fifth Step: Lopping off dead stem helps things get off to a good start.
Ron Dingwall coaches Barbara and Melissa,
“Find the eyes, be careful with the crown…
…beautiful eyes on a solid crown.”
Sixth Step: Divided tubers get a good final wash & are bleached

in a 10% bleach:water solution for 5 minutes in screened bottom buckets
Seventh and Final Step: Pedigreed tubers are labelled with name, size, form and color. Use “A bottle of ink in a pencil” for indelible writing.
Elsie Mueller leads the labeling team while other volunteers leave the Dahlia Dell spotless.
Photographs by Franck Avril
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