Dahlias for Beginners

Dahlias, in my personal opinion, are pretty much the best flower out there.  There may even have been a consideration that a late summer wedding would allow me to have dahlias in my bouquet.  We got married late July and yes, dahlias were a required attendant. This year, I finally decided to muster up the guts and grow some dahlias myself.  I'm not talking about the bitsy little potted dahlias you can pick up in the annuals section of the plant store either.  I'm talking about buying tubers (the bulb-like roots) and growing dahlias literally from the ground up.

I'm so pleased to say that it is now Dahlia season and I've had some marginal success growing these gorgeous blooms.  Mom grew them for the first time this year too, so we learned what to do (and what not to do) together.  AND now I'm here to share them with you.

Dahlia Lesson #1

Watering isn't necessary until the tubers decide to pop their little green sprouts above the surface of the soil.  If you overwater before they've popped, the tubers could rot.  I learned this the hard way.  I planted 18 tubers, and only 11 grew.  Once they start growing, water your heart out.

Dahlia Lesson #2

Stakes are your BFFs.  As soon as the plants reach a foot or 2, tie them to a stake.  These seriously help them grow sky high.  I staked early, Mom a bit later.  Some of her plants got a little squirly at the base and didn't straighten out once they were staked.  Mine on the other hand?  Even though the tubers claimed 36"-48" tall, several of these guys are reaching well above the top of my 5'-6" head.

Dahlia Lesson #3

Aside from liking stakes, the flowers like being cut.  The more blooms you cut, the more they produce.  How sweet is that?  It's like they're MADE to fill up vases throughout my house.  Keep 'em coming!

Dahlia Lesson #4

Speaking of cutting them...  As tempting as it is to cut off a bloom as soon as it opens up, resist!  Older blooms will last much longer when cut.  Once you do cut them, though, place them directly into super hot water (not boiling) and then change the water every couple days to maximize their longevity.

I'm beyond the moon about how gorgeous these plants ended up this year!  My only challenge left will be to dig them up before the first frost and preserve the tubers to reuse next year.

What Dahlia growing tips would you add to this list??

Dori the Flip House: week 10

I hope you enjoy these weekly updates as I learn to navigate through the business of flipping houses.  My latest flip house, Dori sports the 3 L’s in real estate, but will need more than a bit of creativity to make the house sellable. You can find more about this house and about my 4 previous flip houses here. GUYS GUYS GUYS!  This is the week I've been waiting for!!!!  Dori looks like a HOUSE!!!  I may be a little excited if you can't tell.

Because kitchen.

May I just remind you for a moment.....

It was just bad. BAD. But now it makes sense.  The fridge and the stove will have a home.

My favorite added feature in this kitchen is the beginnings of the peninsula/breakfast bar.  Not only is it huge for added storage and counter space, but it's going to get bar stools and sexy pendant lights.

There's a bathroom in this house too, and that's starting to look like a bathroom too!

Now all it needs is plumbing.  And paint.  And knobs....

The bedrooms got a little love too, not to be left out.  They got baseboards and my new favorite alternative to the dreaded boob light.

I did a whole lot of staying out of the way this week, but it's almost time to tag back in.  There are lots of walls and trim and doors- OH RIGHT, I almost forgot and didn't get a pic- the house got interior doors this week too!

What was I saying... oh yeah... there are lots of walls, trim, and doors that need painting now and I haven't yet trained my houses to paint themselves.  I have lots of work to do in the next few weeks to get this baby ready to list! 23 days until she'll officially be FOR SALE!

Dori the Flip House: week 9

I hope you enjoy these weekly updates as I learn to navigate through the business of flipping houses.  My latest flip house, Dori sports the 3 L’s in real estate, but will need more than a bit of creativity to make the house sellable. You can find more about this house and about my 4 previous flip houses here. I really do wish I had it in the budget to hire my painter, but alas, I don't.  Which means that I spent the better part of my week suited up, trying not to glob up the walls with too much primer as I took my first leap into using an airless paint sprayer.

In order to save myself several thousand dollars on a painter and weeks of time rolling endlessly, I picked up this sprayer from Harbor Freight (on sale and with a coupon naturally).

And in a matter of a few days, every wall and ceiling in the house got primed, and all the ceilings got 2 coats of ceiling paint, and I'm very glad to be done spraying above my head.  Well, every room except the bathroom.  I didn't spray anything in there since I didn't want to risk overspraying onto the new tile and the tub.  For the first time in one of my flips, I didn't use my standard subway tile.  I won't claim responsibility for this work, though, the only tiling I plan to do in this house is the backsplash- everything else the contractors will handle.

Another exciting thing that happened this week is this pile of boxes- you should know what this means by now....

Kitchen!!! AND my contractors are over at Dori as I type this installing it!  I'm still too much of a control freak to just let it autopilot, so I'll be over there shortly to monitor progress.

In addition, a few less exciting for you to look at things that are rather exciting progress-wise for me:

All the windows and the new slider got trim, and I finally sold the old stove on craigslist!  The room looks exponentially bigger without it.

and my electrician got back to work wiring things up so they'll soon work.  Look!  There's even a few light switches!  Who cares if they don't work yet, this to me is a sign that the end is near!

Today, the kitchen cabinets go in, the bathroom floor is getting tiled, and hopefully in the next few days, the interior doors will finally be available for my contractor to pick up and install.  This house may actually have some hope of being finished in the next few weeks!!

Have a wonderful weekend!!