Thursday, August 12, 2010
Moving to Pittsburgh- Progress Report
I apologize for the lack of posts , but I'm moving my daylily collection from the Philadelphia suburbs to Verona, PA, a northeast suburb of Pittsburgh. This is Zastrugi, the first daylily to bloom in Verona.
The Ford Freestyle has about 25 square feet of cargo space, but I've also got a 6x9 enclosed trailer that triples my capacity. I pull and pot the whole clump with whatever soil clings to the roots (not much in current drought), then top off the pot with sifted compost, which I add to the planting hole in Pittsburgh.
The pool garden rototilled and ready for daylilies. A wise friend, Ralph Maiwaldt from Ringoes, NJ advised me to put my best as close to the house and water supply as possible. Sod cut from the beds is laid in the aisles, and will be covered with weedblock and chips from dead trees I'm having cleared. The big innovation is separating Dips and Tets to make hybridizing simpler. From this vantage point, it's Tets to the left, Dips right, meeting near the center of the pool.So it's mid-August and I've moved less than 100 daylilies. Part of the delay was when we rototilled and found 100% clay only about 6 inches down. So we've added 10 yards of composted manure to the beds so far, and may add more to raise the beds a bit and improve tilth. Luckily, I have a paid helper in Pittsburgh who has done most of the heavy work.
Labels: Pittsburgh Move
