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Post by Moonlight on Apr 28, 2014 9:59:44 GMT
Sorry for the last few boring posts but I'm trying to work out how I want to organise what I have, both in my garden but also my head...
I would like to enter Downham Royal, mini cactus/semi classes, pom and now collerette  classes but more than that, I'm looking forward to seeing what combination my Heinz 57 seedlings will be like and collecting seed for next year...
There are fewer seedlings coming up now, mainly because Staleen Condessa has slowed down which I am quite pleased about. I collected more Staleen seeds than any of the others, I wonder how many my Dad has had from the 70+ (Can't remember how many but it was a huge number but I've been reading back entries here and it says that I collected over 200 Staleen seeds, should have counted them before) I gave him. I think that I limited myself to 30 seeds all of which I intend to pass onto my Dad anyway like I have my tuber because if any of them grow as tall as Staleen itself, I might as well be growing in a tropical rain forest and nothing else will get any light. Physically, I don't have enough garden for them anyway. I don't know if my Dad has remembered me telling him that but that was the plan originally. He might not be so keen to take them now as has over 480 seedlings come up last time I spoke to him. I am pleased to say that Weston Spanish Dancer has woken up now, only a couple but a couple will be fine for me.
Of all the seeds that I planted I have had:
Staleen Condessa (pink labels): 17*
Red Balloon (red labels): 11
Downham Royal (purple labels): 3
Eastwood Moonlight (yellow labels): 4
Weston Spanish Dancer (blue labels): 2
Nothing from Weston Pirate, Flamingo, Jomanda or
Willo's Violet but I only had only manage to collect a very small number
of the seeds anyway. 
My happy :)grand total of 37 little seedlings and I really mean that, chuffed to bits that any have started to grow. It'll be interesting to see how many will make it to the potting up into 'real' pots stage.
  
*Just realised that I've had 17 of my 30 Staleen come up - that seems quite a high percentage to have come up, although 3 have paler leaves they are still growing.
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Post by Tel on Apr 28, 2014 13:35:54 GMT
We should have a lot of seedling pics, when they start flowering. It could be the good the bad and the ugly blooms  |
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Post by Moonlight on Apr 28, 2014 13:44:48 GMT
We should have a lot of seedling pics, when they start flowering. It could be the good the bad and the ugly blooms |
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Post by Moonlight on Apr 29, 2014 22:21:10 GMT
Yesterday I made a post and then promptly lost it, refreshed the screen. Ironically, I was trying to post this emoticon...
This is the gist of what I had typed...
No I haven't been having fun making a pretty flower collage...
actually this is me after getting so fed up, spending hours of time trying to plan out this year's planting plan, using publisher and word, that I have given up and printed out my photo shoot single bloom close up Rogues Gallery; cut them out and have been blu tacing them into position...
Modern technology
So no I wasn't having fun making a pretty collage but it was therapeutic.
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Post by Moonlight on Apr 29, 2014 22:46:34 GMT
Ran out of time to finish cutting out the different pictures so I left them on my laptop table.
Came home from work to be told by Fairy Yellow Wellies that she has decided which dahlia she wants to grow next... Weston Stardust. Told her that it was top of my list and she told me well it's at the top of my list to.
Realised tonight that I need to print off a Garden Friends photo and another Brenda T.
I have only 3 cells empty and I don't really want to start using the next tray, instead I want to pot up the bigger plants. I've ordered a pack of pots in the same colours as the labels. Think it will be nice to keep the same colours going.
Giving up for now, heading up the wooden hill. TIme for bread, earlier start tomorrow. Time for bed.
Night All
Moonlight
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Post by Moonlight on May 1, 2014 0:19:39 GMT
Didn't have long to talk to my Dad tonight but he mentioned again that some of my seedlings won't make it because they won't be able to make enough Chlorophyll. He thinks that once the Chlorophyll that was stored in the cotyledons is used up it won't be able to grow anymore so will die.
Had a quick chat about dahlias (I know that is a bit of a surprise) what I am planning to grow, how many of the various different varieties that I want to grow. etc. and what I'm passing on to him. Last year, I had just one plant of each variety with the exception of Happy Halloween & Downham Royal because I ended up with 6 tubers of those. I was happy with that, with a lot of luck I managed to win, 2nds & 3rds with just the one plant of each. Last year I cut myself real thin trying to enter as many of the Novice classes at my local show. As I won in dahlia classes, I can't now enter the Novice classes. So instead spreading myself so thin trying to do everything I've found myself focus purely on the dahlias, unintentionally that way, it just happened. Our garden if I am brutley honest needs a jolly good clear up of family random debrey, my own random debry, hanging baskets need replanting. I want have another go at realing my garden path slabs. I am actually rather proud of that path, all that effort, digging, filling, discovering slow worms and jumping out of my skin. It's not that flat (n.b. factor in the fact that our garden slopes anyway) some slabs are better than others but they did the trick.
We bought some for shade grass seed which want to put on the areas where the girls' climbing frame and weather no longer has grass. I also want to fill some of the dips in our lawn.
So there you go, moved away from the topic of dahlias themselves, (bet you never that was even possible now) HH has worked really hard clearing areas and I must hurry up and sort out my greenhouse. So there you go, need to do some clearing and make more space... going to need a lot more space, especially as I need to grow more dahlias and well, as for the seedlings...
I have a tray of 40 cells, 37 of them have seedlings in, 17 are Staleen Condessa which will be relocated to my Dads (4 of which lack the Chlorophyll) which leaves me with 20 and I have a some more that are ready for me to prick out and plant in the cells.
Of my 20, my 4 Eastwood Moonlight look fine, they're younger than the Staleen and Red Balloon and so are smaller but look fine, as are my 2 Weston Spanish Dancers which are younger still.
I currently have 3 Downham Royal seedlings, they are a few days older than my Moonlights but have had slower growth and one of which won't develop properly because I made a right hash up of taking him off of the seed tray.
So that is 4 Moonlights, 2 Weston Spanish Dancers, 2 Downham Royals. My 11 Red Balloons are fine to except for 1 (my fault again).
So of my 20, I've somewhere got find somewhere to plant another 4 Eastwood Moonlights +2 Weston Spanish Dancers, +2 Downham Royals and 10 Red Balloons...
...as I mentioner earlier, I am finding it a bit of a problem trying to work out where they are all going to go. Last year I grew 18 varieties, this year it is going to be 25 with 18 seedlings.
As Dad and Mum were leaving I mentioned my post on the dahlia thread asking about the relative heights of Ruskin Myra and Ryecroft Zoe. Asked if I could still have my Trooper Dan that he had said I could have, yep that's fine and do you want a Clearview Sundance? How big is it? Large. Oh erm... It's the one they're all going on about... Oh erm... better not...
sure? I've got a few of them you could have one of them, if you like...
erm... erm...
I've so got to find space... space and order amongst the chaos that I am. Help!
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Post by sweetpea on May 1, 2014 17:36:11 GMT
Phew! That's me worn out now just catching up on all your posts ML. Not been at the computer so much of late - things to do and places to go but we get there eventually. I'm just wondering where you are going to grow all these dahlias. You might lose the girls when they are all growing as they can get quite tall as you know  Not sure what the night temps. are in your part of the world but here the lowest temperature so far in the unheated g'house with door and all windows open has been 44F. |
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Post by Moonlight on May 1, 2014 22:25:05 GMT
Phew! That's me worn out now just catching up on all your posts ML. Not been at the computer so much of late - things to do and places to go but we get there eventually. I'm just wondering where you are going to grow all these dahlias. You might lose the girls when they are all growing as they can get quite tall as you know Not sure what the night temps. are in your part of the world but here the lowest temperature so far in the unheated g'house with door and all windows open has been 44F. )
I hope that your health is good, I hope that you are, missed reading your posts. You always talk a lot of sense, a lot of common sense but I especially miss your dry sense of humour. Been a bit quiet here, either a, people can't get a word in edgeways because I talk to much or b, my posts here are too boring, so they make good bed time reading and always sends people to sleep, before reaching the end of an update. (This actually happens a lot to me mid typing out an update)(It probably shows)
I never intended to end up with so many dahlias this year. I was intending to grow all that I had last year minus Franz Kafka, Clearview Arlene, Ruskin Bride, Colarado Classic (the freebie that came with an order from the US that my Dad hated but that Pirate Yellow wellies loved) and Happy Halloweens. I still wanted to get a Candy Jayne, I wanted to have an extra Pirate +
Weston Stardust which I saw at the show + Moor place (I love the deep
purple) & Lismore Moonlight (I really liked the 'in your face',
bright yellow happy colour). I really like Scrumpy's Ryecroft Zoe and had to grow Sir Alf for the family and the girls had been promised their dahlia each Hillcrest Hannah and Amber Festival. That had been my sort of plan......
p.s. mental note to self need to take a photo of my Christmas trees, not sure if they are doing well or not now.
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Post by sweetpea on May 1, 2014 22:44:04 GMT
-snip- I hope that your health is good, I hope that you are, -snip Thank you ML. Had a 100 mile round trip on monday to have an MRI scan so will have to wait for results on that. When I asked where my cup of tea was and the nurse said we don't do tea I said well I got one when I gave blood  but I still didn't get one. Anyway, still soldiering on as you do and working on neighbour's garden as well as my own. She gives me coffee and cakes you see 44F is 12 degrees above freezing so no problem with any of my plants and I have tomatoes and peppers in there. No dahlias yet as I will only be growing the bedding varieties this year unless I get too tempted. |
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Post by Moonlight on May 1, 2014 23:52:00 GMT
I'm just wondering where you are going to grow all these dahlias. You might lose the girls when they are all growing as they can get quite tall as you know
I am going to grow some dahlias in my front garden, I've been mulling over which originally it was going to be my poms but then maybe having the poms next to the greenhouse where they were last year would be a better idea because I was still able to get in and out of the greenhouse. Thinking about it, I could probably grow my Downham Royals there because I know their size and it would be manageable but I liked them along the long side of the greenhouse because they were special and easiest to see from the house.
You are right about the girls, I did do a few where are you?s They were really good when it got really tricky moving along the rows, I was able to ask them if they could crouch down to move the hosepipes. Pity they have to grow up... |
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Post by Moonlight on May 2, 2014 0:01:07 GMT
-snip- I hope that your health is good, I hope that you are, -snip Thank you ML. Had a 100 mile round trip on monday to have an MRI scan so will have to wait for results on that. When I asked where my cup of tea was and the nurse said we don't do tea I said well I got one when I gave blood but I still didn't get one. Anyway, still soldiering on as you do and working on neighbour's garden as well as my own. She gives me coffee and cakes you see 44F is 12 degrees above freezing so no problem with any of my plants and I have tomatoes and peppers in there. No dahlias yet as I will only be growing the bedding varieties this year unless I get too tempted. Don't come between a Man and his cuppa. (HH and my Dad are also tea drinkers - with me, mine's a coffee.  . Have you got long till you wait for your results?
I like the 'unless I get too tempted' bit.............................................................................................................................
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Post by Moonlight on May 2, 2014 8:34:35 GMT
I was about to grumble about my pots not being here but just had a knock at the door...
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Post by sweetpea on May 2, 2014 10:47:45 GMT
I was about to grumble about my pots not being here but just had a knock at the door...
You bang your knee then? Should be more careful, doors can be dangerous |
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Post by Moonlight on May 2, 2014 11:05:36 GMT
I was about to grumble about my pots not being here but just had a knock at the door...
You bang your knee then? Should be more careful, doors can be dangerous Speaking of knocks...
I managed to walk past  decorated Humpty Dumpty boiled egg that she had entered in the show - some how or other I knocked it and it fell down and rolled on the floor.
Crunch crack.
Told and showed her and she's been in floods of tears. I feel like a murderer.
Little things to us, a huge to children.
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Post by sweetpea on May 2, 2014 13:51:25 GMT
Aw you nasty mum you |
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classes but more than that, I'm looking forward to seeing what combination my Heinz 57 seedlings will be like and collecting seed for next year...
but I still didn't get one.
. Have you got long till you wait for your results?
decorated Humpty Dumpty boiled egg that she had entered in the show - some how or other I knocked it and it fell down and rolled on the floor. 
