MARCH IS HERE and it seems like both the lion and the lamb want to claim the beginning of March. Truth be told, March always is both a lion and a lamb.
March always (and very politely) lets me know I need to discuss how higher elevations cause a change of timing. Of course, the month is right ,so I will address this today.
This column is relevant to everyone, but it will be a great advantage to those who live in the foothills because it is cold longer up there. At the same time, those living in close proximity to the seawater also experience far cooler weather as summer approaches.
There are many gorgeous flowering plants that thrive here that are called long-day plants. Those required 90 days or more of growing before they begin good flower or foliage production.
In most cases, this length of developmental time can be greatly extended by cool soil temperatures (less than 60 degrees) and cool air temperatures (less than 64 to 68 degrees).
This delay can tack on another 20 to 30 days before blooming, and many of us gardeners only experience their zenith for a few weeks before autumn’s early frost brings the curtain down.
Moreover, these are some of the best or exotic plants around for adding pizzazz, color, texture or cutting flowers to your yard. These plants include, but are not limited to, dahlias (my favorite flowering plant), tuberous begonias, canna lilies, pendulous begonias, caladiums, hanging fuchsias, tuber roses, elephant ears, calla lilies, or plants such as liatris, agapanthus, alstroemeria and hollyhock.
These are lovely plants even though our spring conditions of cool soil and air temperatures severely suppress production.
So what is a good gardener to do?
Buy them now, pot and force them indoors for a month in May and transplant them outdoors.
Let me stress that if you don’t provide a bright, sunny and warm location where you will care for these potted pretties often, don’t bother. It will be a complete and utter waste of time because all you will produce are long, nasty, spindly, weak, yellow plants that will produce far worse than if they were planted outside in the cold.
A sunny, warm, bright location is the number one criteria for successful forcing. A greenhouse, hothouse, conservatory or even a baker’s pie window is preferable over a sunny, flat window sill. The light coming through an ordinary window is one-sided and your plant will be prone to lean towards the window and stretch badly. This, of course, can be corrected and nullified by rotating the plant daily.
After good light, there is warmth.
Indoors, the key is to keep soil temperatures above 64 degrees, so air temperature needs to be 67 degrees or more. This warmth, with bright light, will bring these babies on.
Soil is our next crucial link, and one should spare no expense in purchasing or mixing up a great batch.
Your potting soil should be very heavy in organics (30 to 50 percent of mix) be light, preferably having perlite and or vermiculite in it, as well as some sand and black dirt (20 to 30 percent).
After you have the soil mixed, add in some good organic nutrients. Lime will ensure the proper pH, bone meal will help start new roots and blood or kelp meals will ensure a nice slow release of nitrogen. Wood ash is wonderful, as well, as is a very decomposed compost manure or leaf mold.
Planning is next and begins with new or cleaned pots.
Wash old plastic parts thoroughly, as diseases can linger in old soil particles.
Dip the pots in a bleach solution of 1 ounce of bleach per gallon of water for 10 to 12 minutes and then rinse off very well.
Place an inch or two of soil in the bottom of the pot, lay the plant root or tuber in and then gently and loosely scoop the soil around, filling the pot to the lip.
Do not under any circumstances push down or pack in the soil.
Very heavy and successive watering will condense the soil around the plant and that is exactly what you do next — water, water, water!
Water the pot seven or eight times that day, three to five times the following day and then once a day for a week. Then water the pot as it begins to dry out.
After your first two heavy days of watering, place that pot in that nice sunny, warm spot and add loads of love and care.
As growth develops, shoots get 3 to 4 inches long, fingertip pinch back — which is a process of removing just the smallest tip of the shoot, getting at least one full leaf set or node. This will branch out your planting, causing more flowers to develop over the season.
For spectacular results, double pinch when the new shoots off the first pitch are 3 to 4 inches in length. Again, take off the tip for hundreds more blooms.
Good luck and, by all means, at least try some dahlias this way.
And please, stay well all!
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Andrew May is a freelance writer and ornamental horticulturist who dreams of having Clallam and Jefferson counties nationally recognized as “Flower Peninsula USA.” Send him questions c/o Peninsula Daily News, P.O. Box 1330, Port Angeles, WA 98362, or email news@peninsuladailynews.com (subject line: Andrew May).
