Dayton "Dirt" - February 28, 2014

Now it's official, the last day of February is bitter cold just like most of January and February. The bitter cold has spiked the demand of natural gas for heating the greenhouses especially because at least 80% of the heat is used at night. Some years ago an experiment performed by Dr. Ted Short at the OARDC in Wooster, Ohio was that of a double layer of poly with styrofoam pellets pumped in between layers of plastic at nightfall and then removed and stored in a silo in the day in order to allow light for the plants. Although, I don't know the final results of the experiment, I don't know of any such greenhouse structure in the north employing the pellet technology. High capital costs may have made the "pellet greenhouse" economically unfeasible. Wednesday, March 5th marks the first day of the opening of the nursery after being closed for the two winter months except in the case of seminars. Saturday's seminar has to do with the miniature world of fairy gardening of which I know little about so that it will be a learning experience for me as well! The last seminar is on Saturday March 8th and entails what's new for 2014. So well I remember March 8, 2008 when at least 2 feet of snow fell overnight making it miserable and quite the work load plowing and shoveling out. That day also caused trouble for the winter storage houses in that the snow had to be shoveled away from the sides to allow heavy wet snow to slide from the roofs of the structures before the weight collapsed them. Dick Goddard, the famous Cleveland meteorologist proclaimed that so much snow fell on northern Ohio, Lake Erie and southern Canada that the snow melt would result in an additional 6-12 inches of water in Lake Erie. No doubt spring may be late in the temperature department and it is causing delays in our production schedule that is beginning to ramp up. I know that many of us find snow a nuisance but I must admit I don't mind the snow as much as the biter cold without a snowy blanket as we had sometimes this winter. See you at the seminar. ~Tom