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Author Topic: My Other "Job"  (Read 3351 times)

Offline DayValleyDahlias

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My Other "Job"
« on: January 12, 2008, 06:36:17 pm »
What I do when I am not working, or tending bees, or taking care of elderly parents, or other stuff, haha





1.4 acre dahlia farm...just finished digging up the clumps today so I can amend the soil...gotta go back outside to wash the clumps in prep for dividing..BEES LOVE DAHLIAS!

Offline reinbeau

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Re: My Other "Job"
« Reply #1 on: January 12, 2008, 06:46:52 pm »
Is the farm yours?  It's lovely.  I gave up gardening professionally because it's just too hard on my body.  I had clients I gardened for, it was wonderful and paid the bills, but I developed a problem inbetween my shoulders that I couldn't ignore anymore - and it was keeping me from being able to manage my own garden, and I couldn't stand that!  :shock:  So my midlife crisis career change is to being a Pilates instructor.  I'm in my second session of training right now, four day intensive, it's tough but keeping this up will help keep me in my own garden for a long, long time!  :)

Offline Mici

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Re: My Other "Job"
« Reply #2 on: January 12, 2008, 07:28:47 pm »
wow, you really keep it tidy, i mean, the weeds at bay.
sure looks nice.

Offline DayValleyDahlias

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Re: My Other "Job"
« Reply #3 on: January 12, 2008, 07:59:36 pm »
Yes, thank you all...It is at the lower portion of our land...borders the roadway, so I get to wave at all the people whom drive by!

Offline Cindi

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Re: My Other "Job"
« Reply #4 on: January 14, 2008, 11:56:15 pm »
Sharon, ooooh, wow!!!  Now that is one enormous dahlia patch.  I would presume that you have a market for sale of these beauties?  I do love dahlias too, I remember you speaking about how much the bees really, really liked the open faced ones.  I am on the hunt for dahlias as such.  My seed catalogues from all over the place are starting to pour in and I  love to look at them.

It looks like you have a very sandy loam at your place.  That does make for alot of work with soil amendment.  We are the opposite, we have heavy clay mixed with loamy soil in most spots.  I always amend the soils, and my soils have become very beautiful from so many years of additions of amendments.  It is worth it.

Do you have to dig up your dahlias because of any cool weather.  May seem like an odd question.  But here, the dahlias must be dug, they will perish if they aren't.  It is a lot of work.  The gladiolus on the other hand, stay in the soil, they always come back, year after year and show up in the strangest of places.  Must be the squirrels that move the tubers, little brats.  Have a wonderful and great day, enjoying your beautiful, beautiful dahlia flowers.  Yea!!!  Cindi
There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

Offline DayValleyDahlias

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Re: My Other "Job"
« Reply #5 on: January 15, 2008, 02:02:40 am »
Heya Cindi,

This past Saturday we completed our root dig...I know have the daunting task of dividing, labeling and storing these lil guys.

Our soil is a rich sandy loam which I amend with humic acid and nice aged compost...
 :lol:


Offline Cindi

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Re: My Other "Job"
« Reply #6 on: January 15, 2008, 09:47:13 am »
Sharon, what are you storing your bulbs for?  Is this a dormant stage they require where you live?  I don't understand this, please elaborate.  Have a wonderful and greatest of days.  Cindi
There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

Offline buzzbee

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Re: My Other "Job"
« Reply #7 on: January 15, 2008, 06:29:27 pm »
I think she sells the tubers in the spring when it's okay to ship.

Offline DayValleyDahlias

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Re: My Other "Job"
« Reply #8 on: January 15, 2008, 11:17:52 pm »
Yes Buzz...

Cindi, I grow most of my plants from tubers, and some from cutting ( cloned )...that onetuber multiplies over the Summer months,and when I dig them up in Winter, they have formed a clump of many tubers.  I then dig each clump out, rinse them off, and divide them up.  I keep some, sell some and donate some and give some away to friends and family.

Also by digging them up, I can amend the soil and allow it to rest up for the next go round.  Leaving tubers in the ground is risky, as they can rot, or get eaten by bugs, fungi or gophers!

I collected a lot of seeds this year...going to see what becomes of all that pollinating! :-*

Offline Cindi

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Re: My Other "Job"
« Reply #9 on: January 16, 2008, 12:03:48 am »
Sharon, oooooh ya.  Again, I must tell you I was so impressed by the looks of all your dahlias, beauties.  This year I am going to make several hundred cuttings, or even more, if I can, of the Anise Hyssop.  I grow the Blue Fortune cultivar and the bees go absolutely nuts on it right from the beginning of July to frost kill.  I currently have about 50 one year old mothers and about 10 over one year old mothers, so there are already many, many to obtain those snips from.

The mother hyssop plants bloom about 2 weeks earlier than the cuttings, but the cuttings still bloom shortly thereafter and make a great big huge plant in just a couple of months.  That is the beauty of perennials as such. Once you've got them, you've got them.  They are a site for the eyes these beautiful blue monster plants.  I can't wait for summer!!!  Great day, great life.  Cindi
There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service