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Posted on 7:49 PM by Wanto and filed under
By Helen Dakota
If the idea of using artificial fertilisers appals, the old gardener's recipe can be used, that is, a bag of soot and well rotted manure is suspended in a large tank or bath filled with water, and allowed to stand for some weeks before use. The resultant evil smelling liquid is diluted to a pale straw colour before application to the ground. If this is used it is essential that additional feeding with potash is given at least twice during the season.
It is better to choose varieties especially for the purpose than to rely upon the general range of garden dahlias, particularly if space is limited. For one thing it is preferable to have varieties with long, thin and strong stems as these are easier to arrange in any form of container.
It is most important that a dahlia should be kept growing at a steady rate without a check, if possible. Should a plant be checked in its early stages, the stem tends to become somewhat woody, and for ever afterwards the sap rise will be restricted by having to push through this natural bottle neck on its way to the rest of the plant.
The form and shape of the dahlias need consideration, for the ball type dahlias and the pompons tend to be a little heavy and so have a rather limited appeal, unless used carefully in the more solid arrangements, whereas the cactus and the looser petalled decoratives can be used to create quite fairy like floral arrangements.
A few of the more formal types should be included in the collection to give contrast, but not too many.
At the other end of the season, remembering that normal feeding should cease by the end of August, it is as well to give a final top dressing after this date, say in the first week in September. For this top dressing superphosphate and sulphate of potash, in equal proportions by weight, should be used to assist in making available to the plant, at a period when its energies are being switched over to the manufacture of storage elements in the tuber, those elements which are most useful for this purpose. This is a most valuable practice, particularly if the plants have been heavily fed for exhibition work, as it will sometimes completely correct the tendency to keeping tubers that is inherent in plants overfed in this fashion.
It is better to choose varieties especially for the purpose than to rely upon the general range of garden dahlias, particularly if space is limited. For one thing it is preferable to have varieties with long, thin and strong stems as these are easier to arrange in any form of container.
It is most important that a dahlia should be kept growing at a steady rate without a check, if possible. Should a plant be checked in its early stages, the stem tends to become somewhat woody, and for ever afterwards the sap rise will be restricted by having to push through this natural bottle neck on its way to the rest of the plant.
The form and shape of the dahlias need consideration, for the ball type dahlias and the pompons tend to be a little heavy and so have a rather limited appeal, unless used carefully in the more solid arrangements, whereas the cactus and the looser petalled decoratives can be used to create quite fairy like floral arrangements.
A few of the more formal types should be included in the collection to give contrast, but not too many.
At the other end of the season, remembering that normal feeding should cease by the end of August, it is as well to give a final top dressing after this date, say in the first week in September. For this top dressing superphosphate and sulphate of potash, in equal proportions by weight, should be used to assist in making available to the plant, at a period when its energies are being switched over to the manufacture of storage elements in the tuber, those elements which are most useful for this purpose. This is a most valuable practice, particularly if the plants have been heavily fed for exhibition work, as it will sometimes completely correct the tendency to keeping tubers that is inherent in plants overfed in this fashion.
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