Once again, I’m trying something new.
Last year, while I was ill, my friend Shelia collected seed heads from my dahlia garden. Despite not actively trying, I ended up with about 100 seeds. From those, I planted 50 seedlings and now have 10 that I’m keeping for next year, which is a pretty good percentage. I’m optimistic that this year will be even better!
This year, I planned ahead. About two weeks ago, I stopped deadheading and let the dahlias bloom. I removed petals from mature flowers to help the bees access them. With a big rain expected this week, I didn’t want the seed heads to rot, so Monday, I cut them off and my friend Barbi labeled them. Now, 5 buckets of seed heads are sitting in water in my garage. I'll leave them there for a couple of weeks, maybe changing the water every few days. Hopefully, the seeds will form and then dry out in the greenhouse.
It’s a gamble, but isn’t that just farming? With everything labeled, I can do some next-level data analysis to determine which plants produce the best seeds. If a fantastic seedling emerges, I’ll know exactly who one of the responsible parties was. Oh, the joys of spreadsheets and pivot tables!
