Ah how great to see the 2024 start to Dahlia planning for the new year Scarlet. Prayers and good thoughts for transitions for family business, Scarlet, making it through, whatever comes. Hope, support and angels....
I mailed out my California "kids" presents box with days to spare (feeling virtuous) that it will arrive in plenty of time. And I'm past the halfway point doing garage prep of SO MANY dahlias! With my local community gardening group, we'll be holding our 2nd annual sale this May as a benefit. So I want to make sure I finish the bunch of bags, buckets and piles of the remaining 1/3rd of dug dahlia clumps awaiting those last bits of dividing and packaging in our garage.
The last plantings of outdoor, in-ground tulips. Dividing dahlias, prepping for winter.
I packaged up some dahlia seeds today too. I was successful starting some, they made tubers and flowers. I'd like to do that again in this new year.
After I wrap the grandkids presents this week, pending, my "treat" is to soil block some Lisianthus (Eustoma here on garden.org) and start them in my garage keeping company to our dahlias in winter storage. We will probably haul ALL those dahlias down in the basement to ensure low temps don't get to them, perchance, while we're away visiting the grandkids for a week. Then up they'll come and we'll watch and check them through March, using a heater when needed. The insulated garage here in 6a, SE Michigan has been pretty good keeping the temps between 40 and 50 degrees or so, using our Govee temp monitor.
Attaching some photos of the latest views, planting the last of the "in ground" tulips and fishing out any forgotten dahlias... If I have time, I'l be potting up tulips for the dark / cold / chill treatment in the garage for the winter.
Happy final week of prep for the present holidays and those around the corner everyone!
~ Deb
