The last couple of days have been on the cold side. We haven't had any night time frosts but the daytime temperatures have struggled to reach 8.0°C or 46.0°F. Not that this is unusual, it's what we should expect in the middle of November.
We managed a visit to the plot on Sunday afternoon. It was our first visit to the allotment since the temperature had fallen just below freezing for the first time this autumn. We were wondering if our dahlias had survived the chill.
As soon as we arrived we headed over to the perennial bed to check out our dahlias. There wasn't much doubt that they had been caught by the frost. Their leaves had turned black, a sure sign of frost damage. The next time we visit the plot our main job will be to lift the tubers and move them into storage for winter. The good news was that our chrysanthemums had survived the frost.
After inspecting the dahlias I concentrated on getting our compost bays sorted out. I'd started on our previous visit and managed to sort out one of the bays ready for composting our non weedy material. I managed to empty two other bays and get them ready to be filled up over the coming year or so.
We have five compost bays altogether. Three of these are now empty, one is full of weedy material and the remaining one is full of non weedy material. I'm hoping these two can be left for a year to turn into some useful compost and in the meantime the three other bays can be refilled.
Next job lifting, cleaning and drying our dahlia tubers for winter storage.
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Such a lovely row of flowers! You have a big place for compost! ;)
ReplyDeleteWe are doing well to have some flowers for cutting at this time of year. We create plenty of composting material at the allotment. At least all the waste materials get put back on the plots.
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