The Last Day of Winter
We are new to gardening here in the North. Winters can be wet with an occasional freeze and summers are hot and can be dry.
We seem to have had days and days of rain which is frustrating because I am starting to realise that with some perennials and certainly shrubs it is best to get them in the ground early to let their roots dig down deep but with all the rain I can't get out to do it.
There is also LOTS of weeding to do as we try to establish our new beds. The texture of the soil isn't quite right yet. There is still quite a lot of clay but also some very dry areas not sandy but quite granular. We have added in some top soil and compost and mulch and we are still trying to get the levels of the beds right (they need to be raised slightly for drainage). Once they are levelled and weeded and tilthed I can start planting some of my many seed starts, cuttings, splits and new purchases.
My main challenge for the year is trying to grow delphiniums. Last year my beautiful seeds germinated but out of 30 only 1 is left. My mistake I think was to leave them in the greenhouse and it was just too hot and humid and they just got sicker and sicker and eventually disappeared altogether.
Out of the dozen seedlings I purchased (Pacific Giants and Magic Fountains) 2 grew to beautiful plants last year a dark blue and a baby blue but I am not sure either of them made and retained sufficient root to survive even though I tried to rescue them from the full sun dry beds they were in and potted them up into rich soil and kept them in the shade but I don't think the roots were strong enough. I am told that delphs should be treated as annuals in hot climates!
Gardeners are eternally optimistic so I am sure it will be better this year.
I was happier with the dahlias both from seed and tuber and they all made good strong tubers which I dug up and stored. I should have picked them more assiduously though because they did go to seed a bit too easily. I have been a bit nutty about buying new tubers and also saving seeds so I am quite excited to see how they turn out. We shall have dahlias EVERYWHERE.
One of my favourites last year was "Mango Madness" which is a dinner plate dahlia. I bought it several years ago at the end of the season and put in in a completely wrong position...on top of a hill, in heavy shade and in competition with other greedy plants. It did flower a little but I lost interest because the flowers are large and heavy and orange. This year as I was digging I was astonished to find the tuber still there so planted it and although it was slow to get started the flowers are very interesting and it produced enormous tubers. Let us see if they sprout.
My strategy is to keep pot tubers and to take cuttings. I am told the dahlias are better quality when done this way but it means that you have to start sprouting the tubers early.
I want to start the tubers indoors during the first week of spring but most dahlia suppliers don’t send the tubers until at least the last week in September although they are available in the stores in July.
I was happier with the dahlias both from seed and tuber and they all made good strong tubers which I dug up and stored. I should have picked them more assiduously though because they did go to seed a bit too easily. I have been a bit nutty about buying new tubers and also saving seeds so I am quite excited to see how they turn out. We shall have dahlias EVERYWHERE.
One of my favourites last year was "Mango Madness" which is a dinner plate dahlia. I bought it several years ago at the end of the season and put in in a completely wrong position...on top of a hill, in heavy shade and in competition with other greedy plants. It did flower a little but I lost interest because the flowers are large and heavy and orange. This year as I was digging I was astonished to find the tuber still there so planted it and although it was slow to get started the flowers are very interesting and it produced enormous tubers. Let us see if they sprout.
My strategy is to keep pot tubers and to take cuttings. I am told the dahlias are better quality when done this way but it means that you have to start sprouting the tubers early.
I want to start the tubers indoors during the first week of spring but most dahlia suppliers don’t send the tubers until at least the last week in September although they are available in the stores in July.
I am not sure when and why the tubers break dormancy but in order for them to grow good new roots they need +12 hours of sunlight therefore until the equinox it might be as well to try and keep them under lights until they have rooted.
Some dahlia growers keep pot tubers. These are not grown for the flowers and hardly bloom at all in their small pots. They are grown in the small ( 4 to 6 inch) pots to make small tuber clumps and many varieties that do not make good tubers will make a small tuber clump. The Dark Fubuki which I bought has all rotted so maybe a good candidate for growing from a pot next year.
I have taking cuttings of Rip City and of Mystic Wizard. They are under lights so let us see if they survive.
Petra's Wedding and Sebastian have sprouted as well as several of the unnamed tubers.