Dayton "Dirt" - May 22, 2015

With Memorial Day upon us, planting the flower garden is in full swing with hopefully continued warm weather. Remember too to plant for pollinators so that butterflies, honeybees and native bees will visit your yard and garden as if it were a food station so that the “blessing” of pollination performed by these critters must be bestowed on your property increasing the bounty of the garden.

At the nursery, the greenhouse factory is still cranking out hanging baskets, vegetable plants and flowers galore all for late May and at least through June. One of the most enthusiastic gardeners at the founding of the country was Thomas Jefferson who was a product of the late eighteenth century called the Age of Enlightment. Jefferson as younger man planted more than 1000 fruit trees at his Monticello home and later on as an old man used to sit in a chair in his perennial garden while reading a book. At the age of 68 in 1811 he wrote his friend Vincent Peale the following letter:

“I have often thought that if heaven had given me choice of my position & calling, it should have been on a rich spot of earth, well watered, and near a good market for the productions of garden. No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth and no culture comparable to that of the garden. Such variety of subjects, some one always coming to perfection, the failure of one thing repaired by the success of another and instead of one harvest a continued one tho’ the year. Under a total want of demand except for our family table I am still devoted to the garden but tho’ and old man, I am but a young gardener.”

I think this letter summarize what many gardeners experience and believe that is the essence of gardening.

Tom