* After frost blackens the dahlia tops, wait for a dry day – hah! HOPE for a dry day – within the next week or so, before you dig up the tubers. Turn the clumps upside down to dry in the sun, then remove any damaged tubers and lightly brush off loose dirt. Pack in plastic-lined cardboard boxes, surrounded by packing peanuts. If you give each variety its own container, any old marking label will do, assuming you use indelible ink.

* Fallen leaves make wonderful mulch, but not until they have been ground up, so you might as well mow the lawn while they’re lying there, then rake the resultant grass and leaf mixture. The nitrogen in the grass will help break down the otherwise rot-resistant leaves, so by spring they will be nice fluffy leaf mold instead of plant-smothering dead-leaf-packets.

* Note: each year as the hideous racket gets going, I hope someone will stage a John-Henry style contest between a hand-held leaf blower and a rake. Not some giant industrial model – that I’ll concede – but the small ones that REALLY make you want to kill. If anyone knows of such a contest, please send me an e-mail so I can spread the word.