Dayton "Dirt" - May 25, 2012

As the Motown song goes “How I wish it would rain”, I do hope it rains soon even if it is on Memorial Day. At the Seiberling Farms in Norton, I spoke to Chuck Seiberling’s nephew Brad that stated if it did not rain last Monday (which it didn’t) that they would have to start irrigating the sweet corn and other crops from the Hudson Run that courses through the farm. In a word, please be vigilant of watering your new tree, shrub, perennial and annual flowers at least until establishment. Trees and shrubs generally establish themselves over a 3-4 week period and annual maybe in about a week or ten days. Another “watch” is to keep an eye out for chinch bugs on your lawn starting now as the little devils can destroy whole swaths of lawn before you know it. Just take an empty soup can and cut the bottom out of it and press it in the lawn and then fill the can with water. If any of the critters are present, they will float to the top and then you can apply an insecticide to kill them. This Memorial Day is the traditional garden-planting day and we’re well stocked for the weekend but please get here early as some items are already gone and others are in short supply. May 30th or the actual Decoration Day always conjures up memories of reading about the great Johnstown, Pennsylvania flood in 1889 when 2200 people were killed when an upstream dam at a resort called South Fork broke from heavy rain. Heavy rain now would be a welcome although not that heavy. Tom