Dahlia Season: Plant, Support, Irrigate & Groom forum: Planting out the dahlias - 2016
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| How many have you planted versus potted up? Any different spacing from last year? What amendments are you adding while you plant? POST HERE for the big "I'm done" thumbs up!  (We'll cheer for you, even while quietly jealous that we're not there quite yet...) CC |
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| Still in a holding pattern; there's a pattern of rain falling on days I'm ready to garden, an I'm still holding my patience... C DG All gardening is landscape painting. - William Kent |
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| We have had a week or more of rain and temps in the 40s and 50's. A little too early to plant, but this week should be nice. If the forecast looks good for the 15th and on, I'll probably start late this week or early next. Em in NY Dahlias -- the gift that keeps on giving! |
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Hope you get loads planted, Em! The varieties you sent me are just now sprouting. They seemed to take their time...but are looking good!  "What is a weed?" asked Peppa Pig. "A weed is a cheeky plant growing in the wrong place!" replied Grandpa Pig. |
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| I got about a 100 in the ground over the weekend. Too much going on to dedicate more time; but next weekend looks better (time wise); and I may even finish. It seems to never fail. I will plant when the gound is warm enough; and the forecast looks equally warm. Then, the second they go in the ground a cold front comes in out of no where. We have 30's in the forecast for the end of next week! I'm increasing my spacing from 18 to 20 inches this year. I grow just a few of many varieties; so it is so easy for them to get crowded out since I often am just guessing at heights - particularly on the new ones. I robbed the space by growing only dahlias in the field this year. No bouquet fillers - just dahlias. I always think the best thing to put in a bouquet with dahlias is...more dahlias; so that's what I'm doing. |
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| No one I know has ever complained about me bringing them a vase filled with only dahlias Honnat! |
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| I decided to wait another week before even taking my dahlias out to the porch to start hardening off. The forecast of the mid to high 30"s scared me, and they look relatively happy under lights still. I'll try to get most of my annuals and cold tolerating vegetables planted out this week, but right now I still have a lot of prep work to do, and a lot of perennials that I want to move around. (and I have to finish my grading and end of the year reports - yuck) The last of the tulips are blooming now, and the daffodils and primrose are still putting out, so some nice nice color in the yard to distract me from being overwhelmed with how much work needs to get done. |
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| Still resisting... Cooked spinach of last year in mid-may still haunting my dreams. Will probably start putting out 6inch plants in cold frame next week. CC |
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| Just checking in quickly, we just started planting out last week. My overwintered ones here in 6B had about a 50% return rate (YAY!), they would have had a higher rate but my tunnel got destroyed in our early early spring winds (60-70mph) and then we had rains that saturated the ground before I got the tunnel back up--so a 50% rate was pretty good I think. I already went back and filled in the holes with the same variety extras I bought this year. We're planting out under a very low tunnel with thin plastic just to keep them a bit warmer and doing half in black fabric with holes and half without to trial the difference in growth. Last year we did without fabric and our weed pressure just ate us alive-but it's just so much easier to plant out without the fabric-and faster and then once the dahlias are established they overtake the weeds. However we'll see. We have 300 in so far and have 1200 total to do. Should hopefully be done by early next week! |
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| I got started on planting out my foliage and shorter cut flowers in the raised bed. That will take some of the plant tending pressure off so I can devote time to dahlia planting. Its on the slate for next week after we get home from Portland. I just got a reprieve on today's trip..don't have to leave until tomorrow morning early. So I am going outside and set out the cloud larkspurs and orlaya and white clarkia. Wooferman is finishing the other raised bed before he leaves in a couple of days. The first raised bed is along the western border of my garden so its full sun. the 2nd one is on the northeast side near the shade of the maple trees, so more shade loving plants can go there, I think my sweet williams, and some of the snap dragons would love that. I realized that my new garden actually has 3 zones...the higher, south end, the middle transitional zone, and the lower north zone. I'm thinking that north zone might become my "woodland" garden with lots of foliages like the smokebushes, azaleas, hydrangeas and bluebells. Its the smallest newest section of the garden and there are trees(birch and wild apple) and shrubs between it and the street on the north side. Its going to be beautiful! I found a downhill spot in the shade of the birch tree for a little table and a couple of easy chairs...come on over! Salish Dahlias |
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| I like the image of you sitting in your chair in the shade, waving your magic wand and directing as your Wwoofer does your bidding! |
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| Three long rows planted, and three very short rows. There is no rhyme or reason to my planting this year as they're all ready to go and I need to get to it so they're just going to get planted by what box they're in. It just happened that the ones I planted today are ones I wanted to start early, which is good, IMO. Those rows comprise about 10% of what was left from last year. It went pretty quickly. I do like the hills. Planting in the hills with my feet in the ditches on either side of a hill works pretty well. I'd kind of like to have the SI planting tractor, though! Not so much bending, stooping and reaching would be going on if I could be sitting while doing it. I need something like this (click this link to check it out), or like a wagon on that site, but I think the axles would drag too much for it to be really useful in the ditches rolling over the hills, for me, although I really wish it would work.  Noni or Geof, on the other hand, may find it super useful! C DG All gardening is landscape painting. - William Kent |
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PNWGal wrote:I like the image of you sitting in your chair in the shade, waving your magic wand and directing as your Wwoofer does your bidding! I envision she points directions with something more intimidating like a hickory cane or baseball bat !!!  Seems to keep all those boys in line over there she does !! Cynthia , that cart is really neat , looks like something my Mom could get a lot of use from as she does not get around so well . They must have a battery operated version with a little motor , heck I would take that on a beer run |
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| I have exactly that base but without the back rest. I wonder if I could add a back to mine. Mine also doesn't have the back basket but it does have a tray underneath where I can put my hand tools. My new paths need work before they will be smooth enough and hard enough to roll down them on this. And because of that slope I will have to be a bit careful. I will probably have to drag it back to the top of the slope. All I want is a little motor to drive it...I think electric or solar would be nice. Oh yes, a Solar powered garden cart that will drag old folk and their tools back to the gate.... I really liked working in the "2 cement block high" bed today. So much easier then planting in the ground. Maybe every year I can buy enough blocks to raise another few beds. I think one block high would work for the dahlias. Salish Dahlias |
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| Benny and Noni - save your tiller motors; I understand they use them to power go-karts, so they should be able to power that thing, and it already has a steering mechanism built in! C DG All gardening is landscape painting. - William Kent |
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| I love the look of that cart! But there is no turn around. My beds are dead ends. |
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| Here's your version, Benny! http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01F3NO9JQ/ref=s9_hps_bw_g2... |
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| Those carts are nifty, but I don't think I am ready to admit I need something like that yet, and my bumpy wood chipped paths wouldn't make for smooth rolling either, The motorized beer cooler is a hoot |
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| Got almost all my new arrivals planted in two rows this evening. Goes fast! Happy to see that they are almost all showing signs of life! The hills did well - we had a thunderstorm today, and the tubers I planted last evening were not soaking wet, so I'm happy!  C DG All gardening is landscape painting. - William Kent |
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| Spent another few hours under the house with the result that two more boxes of dahlias are planted, and I've even got a small pile of 'extra' tubers to share around with people at work and in my congregation who have expressed interest. All in all, it has been a very productive day! Mr. DG has also planted several rows of sunflowers, so they'll be up and shading the dahlias before too long, which is a good thing since I still have not found the shade cloth. C DG All gardening is landscape painting. - William Kent |
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