Dayton "Dirt" - June 25, 2011

With the passing of the summer solstice on June 21, the long days of summer begin.

I’m hoping for a good growing season, at least one that is better than last year’s summer of extreme heat and dryness.

Surprisingly, I spotted a cache of Earliblue blueberries almost ripe on June 18th when normally the first pick date is not really until the tail end of June.

It does not seem like the cool rainy spring caused them to be behind.

The flowers in the greenhouse are growing better than ever although the pickings are getting slimmer with the exception of our late planting of wave petunia hanging baskets.

With the weeding under control this past week has been a pitch for sprucing up the botanical garden and the planting of flowers all over the nursery.

After the flower planting, the first wave of transplanting shrubs is followed by our taking of semi-hardwood cuttings of various trees & shrubs.

While the nursery seems to have its continuing share of work, the Owl Barn Market will be open in mid-July although I’m still wondering how far behind will be Seiberling’s sweet corn which is our main supply of fresh home-grown sweet corn.

The rainy spring weather placed farmers in a questionable position whether to plant or not because of the necessity of planting soo late.

Apparently, on a trip recently to north central Ohio along US Route 224, I observed many farm fields lying fallow apparently due to the wet spring.

At least there will be plenty of blueberries and other earlier crops to start out the market for the season.

Happy gardening,
Tom