Friday, July 24, 2015

Dayton "Dirt" - July 24, 2015

The Owl Barn market is in full swing now with the arrival of Seiberling sweet corn. Brand new varieties with new sweetness and longer lasting sweetness after picking are available this year. How fitting then that the name of the first early variety is “Sweetness”! Following will be Java and Cup of  Joe which will have a certain percentage of super sweet corn on the cob along with the sugar enhanced kernals. According to Chuck Seiberling, 100% super sweet corn can be somewhat tuff so that the mixed ear of sweet corn is tender yet sweet. How different things are from 30+ years ago! Back then, sweet corn had to be eaten the same day as picked to be sweet or quickly chilled to prevent the sugar from converting to starch. Then too, yellow corn was the favorite with a small amount of bicolor sweet corn chosen by customers. Now the opposite is true today.

On the nursery side, transplanting of shrubs is still going on as well as major renovation of the grounds and the potting of scads of small perennial plugs from the companies of Walters Gardens of Zeeland, Michigan, Terra Nova of Canby, Oregon and Greenleaf Perennials of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Most of the plants will grow strong all summer and root out into their containers in order to “bulk up” for the long winter ahead. Come spring the plants will begin to grow in mid-March and will be trimmed to remove dead foliage from the previous year. The same goes for the hundreds of clematis that have been potted this past week. In early March, the plants are trimmed to 2-3 inches above the crown and then explode into growth in a matter of days as they wind around their trellis. Time is running out to take cuttings of various shrubs so that this chore will begin tomorrow and be finished by Monday.

With the new condensing boiler installed last year in the greenhouse, cool days and/or nights that would slow the rooting of the cuttings can now be cancelled out so to speak with the addition of “bottom heat” from the super efficient boiler. It seems summer is rolling along and time is limited to get necessary timely chores done.

Tom

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