Thursday 3 December 2009

Ordering The Veg.

TODAYS WEATHER READINGS
So that I can post the readings on the same day as the blog post they are of the previous 24 hours up to 6 pm today.
Temp Low: 6C
Temp High: 7C
Rainfall: 3mm
Cont. Days Without Rain: 0
Dry Days This Month: 1
Wind Level For The Day 10
Pressure: 978.1
Weather: Turned brighter after a wet morning.

2009 Highs & Lows
Min for the year: -5 C (4th February)
Max for the year: 35 C (1st July)
Most rain in 24 hours: 39mm (5th June)
Longest dry period: 41 days (13th Sept – 24th Oct)

As the day got off to a wet start I got stuck in to another of the many jobs that will hopefully set the garden up for the coming year, I made out the seed order for vegetables. I just need to take it across to the office for them to put in a cheque and send it off for me and that’s another job well done. The next wet day will probably be spent making out the flower seed order. For the vegetables I use Marshalls Seeds.

This afternoon the weather had brightened up so I finished of tidying up the Dahlia’s borders. Yesterday I dug up and put to store all the tubers I’d marked for lifting and so this afternoon all that was left to do was clear off the tops which I put on the compost heap. When this was done I marked any tubers left in the ground with a short piece of stick as you really need to know where they are when it comes to forking over the border and also in the spring when it’s time to replant because more than likely the tubers left in the ground won’t be showing and the last thing you want is to end up cutting off the young shoots while planting or weeding so for this reason I cut a short piece of stick to mark where they are. You may be able to spot some of the tubers by the old stalks but they tend to disappear over the winter so aren’t a reliable marker.

2 comments:

Clint said...

What is the garden zone where you are? I am in the south west part of Michigan in the USA and I have to lift dahlias and glads ect.. ro they will not winter over.

Bob said...

Hi Pam, Thank you for the comment on my blog concerning lifting the Dahlia's. You are of course right to question me about leaving them in the ground over winter and I must stress that the ones I left in are there to take their chance so to speak are just ones that I'm not really bothered about. I did make a point of lifting and storing safely two of each variety. Any that are left are ones that I have an abundance of. However having said that there is a good chance that most of them will survive as they're in a pretty sheltered position. Some have already survived two winters without being lifted. I recorded a temperature of minus five last winter and I only lost half a dozen or so. So really the thing is that if you have Dahlia's that you value in the slightest don't take the chance but if you have some that you are prepared to lose then take a chance with them. If you want to give them a bit of an extra chance pile some compost or soil over them and then in spring level it off over the border. I hope this is of some help to you. I think we are in Hardiness Zone 8b