2003 Battle
 

Here it is almost the end of Feb.03, and while it's still cold here in
the High Mojave Desert, it is shoing signs of warming up, we've not had a
night of under 30F for a full week already. I have already planted some
seeds out in the garden, and the onions are doing fine. What I have to do
now is plan on my plantings of Dahlias.

First of all, I have learned via my testings the last few years, I can't
use the local DIRT (can't call it soil), not just because of the fact
that's it's find ground,wind blown clay, but also there are a few million
life forms in it that'll wipe out the Dahlia tubers and plant too. So
this means pure fresh potting soil, and the best I can afford is down at
Wal-Mart, their super soil.

Second comes the sun, now during the early spring it will not be bad, of
course that may only last for a week or two, if it does what it's done
the other years, by mid April or the lastest by first of May, we'll be
seeing near 90 to 100F days, which means I'll need to shade them some
way. Simple you say? No Way! Why? Because that brings in #3, WIND! I'm
not going to say that we have lots of winds out here, but all I have to
do is step outside and look to the north to see the masive wind farms
they have up that way.

Year before last I had some shade cloth set up from the side of my
trailer, trouble was, at lest one or two times a week I'd have to re do
it as the winds would take it down. I can't grow them out in the garden,
out there the winds even bend over my bambo and canna at times, Dahlias
wouldn't last a week out there, nor their shade either.

What I can do is, 1. grow'm in pots, under an Elm tree, this way they'll
get eaarly AM and late PM sun from the sides and dappled sun the rest of
the time. But I also have to make sure the pots are on top of plastic
bucket leds or anything else that keeps the pot from touching the soil,
why? Because of #4, Elm Tree Roots! I've had dahlias in the ground and
when the plant died, found the tree roots had grow INTO the tuber and
sucked it dry. I've had a Rose in a pot and it was doing fine, bloomed
and by mid summer it was dead, pulled it out of the pot and the blasted
elm tree roots had grown UP into the pot and filled the pot with roots.
So I have to make sure any pots are either off the ground or on something
that'll block those roots.

I also have to watch for #5, Grasshoppers! right now their asleep, but
will soon wake and they are eating machines, but the onions they don't
like, the 4'Oclocks are safe and the canna too from them, but let them
find a un-protected Dahlia and it's DINNER Time. About the same time #6
will appear too, it will not come near the trailer, to many cats in the
park and that does make this a safe zone from the jackrabbits out here,
out in the garden I fight them as they love the early canna shoots. But I
have set up something out there that seems to help stop that too.

So for Dahlias, I'll be washing out the pot's I'll use and buy bags of
super soil and a box of wal marts plant feed too. The one thing that I'll
have to be carefull and it's my own un doing, I have to be care to not
over water the Dahlias.

BTW, has anyone ever hear of a plant by the name of Yacon (Polymnia
sonchifolia) ? It's suppost to be a relative of the Sunflower/Dahlia
families, could this be something like the Sun couks I also grow to eat?


--
In This Universe The Night was Falling,The Shadows were lenghtening
towards an east that would not know another dawn.
But elsewhere the Stars were still young and the light of morning lingered: and
along the path he once had followed, Man would one day go again.

Arthur C. Clarke "The City & The Stars"

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