Today I went down to the big garden for the final clean-up of the year. I still had in the ground nine varieties of dahlias that I chose not to dig and save this year. All of these varieties displayed some unusual markings on their leaves, most likely the tell-tale signs of dahlia virus. In reality, I should have pulled these plants as soon as I noticed the first sign of virus. But instead, I waited until I had safely dug all of the other dahlias, just to be certain that I wouldn't transmit any virus from contaminated plants to healthy plants as I dug. Then I tossed them all over the fence. Again, I didn't want to toss them in the compost pile and risk further contamination. Then I covered the compost pile for the year and the garden was officially put to bed. A blank slate - except for the weeds - once more.
Although the high temperature was only 41 today, it was sunny and a very pleasant day to be working outside. As you can see, all of the cats were enjoying the late Fall sunshine.
So what will you do about the ground that the diseased tubers were in? Does the virus overwinter?
ReplyDeleteAnd your cats are such cuties - I miss my cats.