On Thu, 8 Sep 2011 12:08:22 -0700 (PDT), Dave Hill
wrote:


I have less than 10% of my dahlias in flower, I finished up taking 10
weeks to plant, should have been done in no more than 5, I was
expecting a good August and Sept to let them catch up a bit, but with
night temps down as low as 48f, and the cool days, lack of sunshine
and now more rain and gales the poor things dont stand a chance.
The supports proke on some of the tree dahlias and I have had to pick
them up, some must weigh around half a hundred weight and more, next
year it will have to be wires and more heavy canes (8ft+) problem is I
need to stake around 80 plants.
I'll have to see if I have any young Ash poles growing.
David Hill

You must be tamping mad! I'm starting to think about lifting my (few)
ground ones before they drown and going at the wall planters to see if
there are any tubers worth recovering for bedding next year.

Sounds like you'll be lifting a lot before they get round to
flowering. If not maddening it must be heartbreaking.

Sounds like you need a lot of fence posts rather than stakes or canes!

Cheers
Jake
==============================================
Gardening at the less wet end of Swansea Bay
but moved on from Tolkien; now half way through
the complete Harry Potter.

www.rivendell.org.uk