Dayton "Dirt" - July 27, 2012

July is coming to a close with the steamy weather continuing but at least for now we received about an inch of much needed rain and relief from the heat! The Blueberry Festival went well with the hayrides, Frankie Spetich on his accordion and the cooking demonstrations, although from observing the fest-goers, I think they favored the free food sampling! We just finished with taking our azalea cuttings and now are potting up ferns and various perennials for next spring’s sales. Another big job is the weed control as it can be a constant battle as most of the nursery is irrigated which makes for a good mix of moisture and heat for extremely good weed growth! Seiberling farms has managed to supply us with delicious sweet corn besides the drought and the other produce seems to be better then ever because of the drip irrigation on the plants. In fact, the farm can run liquid fertilizer though the lines so that they are not dependent upon overhead irrigation or rain to dissolve a granular fertilizer. The Owl Barn Market is full of produce including local peaches and other fruits, pies, baked goods and other cooking supplies. We’ve changed our hours too in that we’ll be open at 9:00 am instead of 10:00 am to better serve our customers who want to get their shopping done earlier. Got to go now but do pray for some more rain! Tom

Dayton "Dirt" - July 13, 2012

Tomorrow is our annual Blueberry Fest that will be centered around the Owl Barn Market including food, hayrides, music and of course luscious and juicy blueberries, blueberry pie, blueberry jams and jellies. The music is one of local flavor featuring Frankie Spetich who is known as the Polka King of Barberton. The hayride will include stops at the newly planted blueberry patch featuring the varieties such as Duke, Patriot, Bluecrop and Elliot all under drip irrigation during the hot and dry summer. The Owl Barn Market is in full swing with Ohio grown sweet corn and tomatoes but we’re chopping at the bit for local Seiberling sweet corn which is on the edge of being ready. We’ve been on a cleaning binge at the nursery preparing for the festival which has included flower planting, mulching, weeding and such. Many of the shrub beds and displays need renovation but that job will have to wait until we get some much needed rain. The last few years has been a building boom at the nursery in the building of the Owl Barn and new greenhouses but this year will be tame by comparison with a major renovation of the parking lot and a new roof of the equipment barn and the addition of a train garden featuring a German made train that will be a permanent feature of the landscape due to the tracks being constructed of solid brass. Another addition to our list this year is a playground with a slide, ladder and swings that was built just in time for the Blueberry Festival! For those of you in our garden club don’t forget to use your Dayton Dollar coupons before the expiration date. See you at the festival!

Dayton "Dirt" - June 29, 2012

Well the Owl Barn is finally open with produce and the first sweet corn of the season from Ohio although not from the Seiberling farms which should have corn in a couple of weeks. I remember my dad telling me that it was like a miracle if any of the local sweet corn was ready before August! The nursery is still rolling along with much of our March potting efforts coming to fruition with the myriad of trees and shrubs now available for sale. The hot, dry weather has made extra irrigation necessary because of the phenomenal evaporation rate due to the relatively low humidity. Soon we will be getting in small plants of Knock Out roses, more perennials and hardy ferns that are for next year’s sales. The amount of potting that we do in summer has increased over the years that necessities the mixing of more potting media that consists of pine bark, peat moss and various fertilizer and lime. The mix holds water for good root growth but has 20-25% pore space for draining away excess water which, fortunately for us, drains away to our irrigation lake to be used over and over again. Be sure to check out the market while you’re at the nursery and I hope to see you at our Blueberry Festival on July 14th! Tom

Dayton "Dirt" - June 22, 2012

Last Sunday morning the rains fell heavy at the nursery and again on Monday night that gave thirsty plants some relief from the heat and drought. By opening a valve at the end of a pipe that is in the creek that flows through the nursery, we were able to capture much needed rain water for our irrigation pond. Besides annuals, the colors lighting up the nursery are multi-colored hydrangeas, especially the electric blue Endless Summer variety. It seems like only yesterday that we unloaded the plants bare root from a Minnesota nursery in order to pot up for sale beginning in June. Other potting is going on including our azalea production and “shift ups” of otherwise pot bound plants to larger sizes. The tomatoes in Southern Ohio look like they are on the edge of being ready. We plan to open the Owl Barn Market later this coming week and will be featuring sweet corn, tomatoes, peppers, and a few other beginning fruits and vegetables. We still have not planted all the flowers at the nursery yet because of the horrific heat but flower planting is scheduled for early next week. Please watch the watering of your newly planted trees and shrubs as it is still too dry even with the recent rains. It will take at least another 2 inches of rain to play catch up with the dry spell. No doubt the rain will fall. It’s just a matter of when. Summer began on Wednesday, June 20th this week with the summer solstice so that the long warm days will really make things grow – including the weeds! Tom

Dayton "Dirt" - June 15, 2012

At the nursery, the sales department is starting to slow down from its hectic pace in May but the production department is going strong. Our Igloo mums just arrived from the Aris company to be potted into 9.5” pots for fall sales and then oodles of hosta, astilbe and grasses are ready to be transplanted for fall and next spring’s sales. One of my favorite shrubs in the nursery is Mountain laurel with its multi-colored clusters of small blossoms. This rhododendron-azalea native grows in groves in the Allegheny National Forest under the shade of gigantic oaks, white pines and sometimes Canadian hemlocks although I think they don’t like the invasive roots of the hemlock tree. On a recent visit to the forest, the laurels were in massive bloom only to be dwarfed by their companions of rosebay rhododendron that will bloom at the end of June and July. The annual flower greenhouse has some good buys as almost all the flowers, veggie plants, herbs and hanging baskets are 50% off the regular price in time for planting the flower or veggie garden if you can utilize what we have left. A good buy for sure are some beautiful 6.5” potted geraniums that we’ll be bringing in for Saturday. The plants are normally $8.00 each but will sell at $4.00 each with the discount. With another week gone by, the Owl Barn market gets ever closer to its opening date sometime late next week. Sweet corn and tomatoes from southern Ohio will be the first produce offered with other items joining in as the season progresses. Hope to see you in the market! Tom

Dayton "Dirt' _ June 9, 2012

The cool early June is now giving way to more “normal” temperatures and as long as water is available, the vegetable garden should provide quite a bounty as long as you weed it! Our newsletter for summer is out so make sure you take advantage of all of the specials. For those of you planting your veggies late, we have beautiful 1 gallon tomatoes for only $3.00! The plants are robust and full with many having green tomatoes. We just finished a planting of new Igloo mum varieties as a test for Aris of Barberton that will hopefully pan out in order to be introduced as four new Igloo colors and forms. The blueberries in the field already look like they’re going to turn color so that the birds are probably getting all excited. Stop by the nursery this weekend as we’re well stocked and the hanging baskets are simply beautiful. Happy Gardening Tom p.s. Place July 14h on your calendar for our 2nd annual Blueberry Fest with food, music, hayrides and more. See you then!

Dayton "Dirt" - June 1, 2012

The record heat during Memorial Day weekend gave way to cool and rainy for the first day of June. With some more rain and temperatures in the mid seventies to low eighties in the day, it’ll be perfect weather for early June. Perennial flowers are still coming on stream out of our production area. We’re on the tail end of our annual flowers and hanging baskets although I must say that the vegetables plant selection and herbs are still adequate for most customers. Trimming, weeding and fertilizing is all going on “out back” that will result in new crops for later this summer and for next spring too. We’ve started growing a lot more dwarf conifers such as the Jean’s Dilly Alberta Spruce, Little Gem Nest Spruce and Donna’s Mini Mugho Pine just to name a few. The greenhouses have already received their second coat of white wash on the roof and sides in order to block out more of the hot sun and to reflect the sun’s radiance thus keeping the houses much cooler for plants and people alike. We finally placed the flowers in our pot-n-pot system along the road, which are Spellbound Impatiens and Sunproof Coleus of different colors. The impatiens are deceptive as this new variety does not have to have shade as it will happily grow in the sun or shade. The large geraniums around the Owl Barn are the Americana brand that served as our stock plants from which we took 3 batches of cuttings to make more geraniums of a smaller size. You’ll find the shrubs well stocked too as we’ve brought a lot more out from our growing area. I like the nursery but after all those long spring hours, its almost time for a vacation. Tom