January Farm Journal
A whole new year and a whole new roundup
The last three months of 2024 were a whirlwind on the farm.
After a bout of sickness in October that knocked me back for a few weeks, I was left scrabbling trying to get on top of all of the jobs and not miss the all-important spring planting time frames to make sure I would have flowers for Valentine’s Day.
The biggest job was preparing the planting area for the roses and then moving the rose field - all 500 of them.
Well.. ok. Not 500. Some of them had never performed well for me here so they didn’t get the star treatment of being moved to the flower field - they were mown down instead.
Horrific to some, maybe, but I can’t describe the catharsis of saying goodbye to plants that had received hours of care over three years only to ever output sad and mouldy flowers.
Bliss.
All up we (mum and I) moved 330 rose plants.
It took so much longer than I thought it would.
The last time we planted roses together was winter of 2023. We planted 500 roses in two days.
I thought it would take us a similar amount of time to relocate the rose field.
I was so wrong.
Instead it took us about two weeks.
Part of the reason was digging out the plants. It was October and that meant the roses were actively growing. They were also three years old so had much larger root systems than the bare root roses we were used to planting. This meant digging them out with care so as not to shock them too much, and then on the other end, digging much larger holes. To make it trickier, the new spot that I had made was a mix of top soil and clay and the dry winter meant that some spots were quite tricky to penetrate with a shovel.
In fact, I broke my favourite (and most efficient) shovel handle three times - both in digging out the plants and when digging holes.
“But Mardi,” I hear you say, “Why not use an augur or post hole digger?”
The answer is that we have used a post hole digger in the past to plant our roses. However, in comparing these roses (that were planted 3 years ago with the assistance of an augur) with the roses that we moved last year (that were planted without an augur) it seemed pretty clear that the root development had been hampered by the perfectly round holes.
Annie Smithers wrote in her book Recipe for a Kinder Life that you should always use a shovel and dig a square hole to avoid fruit trees becoming root bound. I hadn’t thought about it much since I read it, but after seeing the roots on the roses, it made sense that our clay-ish soil with round holes might be contributing to the problem.
Even though it took longer, as I don’t plan to move the roses again (and I think mum may disown me if I asked her to help) hand dug holes seemed like a good investment for the future, even if it caused short-term pain.
Eventually the roses were moved and then it was time to prepare the dahlia growing zones.
Once I got going this wasn’t a giant task. I will write about it more in detail in a separate post as I know how many of you grow dahlias.
Suffice to say once I remembered the joy of string lines things moved fairly quickly. The bulk of the cutting dahlias were planted out by the end of November and then I started on the second dahlia field in early December.
By mid December 2600 dahlias were in the ground and then it was time for… more dahlias.
Back to the flower field and a few days of mowing, measuring, string lines, and raking, meant I had somewhere to plant all of my first, second, and third year dahlia seedlings.
And of course, in between all of those tasks I was also taking, caring for, and planting out dahlia cuttings.
Phew!
(Video: the dahlia field on 4 Feb 2025 after several days of high temperatures)
Finally January rolled around - the actual point of this article - and it has been a steady stream of maintenance tasks. Planting the dahlias grown from December cuttings to fill in gaps and increase stock of new varieties, weeding, mowing, checking irrigation, moving and dividing the bearded Iris, attending Dahlia Society meetings and outings, and the first few flowers of the dahlia season.
At the end of January I introduced my little roadside Quite Contrary Flower Cart and have been so pleased to see my flowers embraced by my community.
What’s Going On in February
Events
14 Feb - Valentine’s Day
(But I probably didn’t need to tell you flower lovers that!)For the first time I will be offering gorgeous bunches of dahlias direct to the public
22-23 Feb - Dahlia State Show
Hosted by the Dahlia Society of Victoria at the Mount Waverley Community Centre
Free entry for members and cheap for non-members
There will be heaps of dahlia blooms (including potentially some from yours truly) on display. There will also be cut flower sales to support the Society and some plant sales.
This year Victoria is hosting the mainland portion of the National Show (to avoid the tricky biosecurity regulations of Tasmania) so the show is big business! Come see the best of the best dahlia exhibitors battle it out to be the National Champion.
Many of the bloom on display will be named, so it’s also a perfect opportunity to put together your wish list for winter and see the blooms in person!
Greenhouse
Nothing! Or… kind of
I might still have some dahlia cuttings kicking around that I don’t have a whole lot of space for. Still tossing up whether I bin them (seems a waste) or make some new beds (do I have time?)
Jury’s still out on whether I start my ranunculus seed at the end of this month or in early March - I’m going to let the weather guide me
Field
Weeding, mowing, and maintenance (always)
Harvesting dahlias!
Deadheading my Floret Zinnias and then netting to isolate and start seed saving
Planting out my second breeding patch of dahlias to collect next years seed. These are isolated from the others to hopefully help me get seedlings that better match my breeding goals. This year I am focusing on Ball form, and also pastel pink/Cafe Au Lait colouring so I have two separate beds.
Shed
Cold hardy seeds to go into the fridge ready to be sown at the end of the month
Re-organise and tidy to get ready for the inevitable dahlia dig and divide that will happen in June