This weekend is the opening of the main greenhouse of flower and vegetable plants, tropicals and herbs. To me, it is still too early to plant and if any of the customers do ask all salespersons as instructed the answer that “yes” it is too early to plant except for ‘cold weather’
plants like broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, pansy and violas. The extra burden on us is the daily required high maintenance of the greenhouse consisting of watering, spacing, cleaning and of course serving customers.
In addition to this work above, more plants have arrived from Michigan to be potted in which some of these shrubs will be available late this summer. If that weren’t enough, the perennial house still needs “filled to the gills” and maintained. Then there is weed control in the plants and the ever present garlic mustard weed starting to bloom along the nursery that must be destroyed before this invasive weed spreads everywhere!
The azaleas are blooming about 10 days earlier than usual with colors galore in the nursery and flowers blooming everywhere on the grounds.
In the Wolf Creek Garden, weeds are finally getting under control and color from Eastern Redbuds and the spill of pink and blue colors down the 18 foot vertical wall on the north side of the Owl barn light up the grounds. In the garden, the azaleas are just at a hint of color except for the full bloom of Rhododendron ‘Aglo’ and the old-fashioned and rare Azalea Ethylwyn which is an old Gable hybrid.
Spring is wonderful time at the nursery although sometime’s it’s too much work!
Tom
Saturday, April 29, 2017
Friday, April 21, 2017
Dayton "Dirt" - April 21, 2017
The second half of April at the nursery is an even faster ramp up of activities as the perennial house and annual flower houses must be readied for opening at the end of the month. Then too is the receipt of tropical plants from Florida that require almost everyday watering plus the at least 2 initial successive treatments to eliminate or at least check the “Florida bugs” so that they are not present on the plants when they are purchased and to eliminate the possibility that they will contaminate the flowers and vegetable plants grown in the greenhouses over the winter.
For other business, the receipt and then potting of thousands of small shrubs from Michigan must be accomplished so that stock will be available later in the summer and next year. Some of the small shrubs will be continually repotted into bigger containers in order to achieve larger finished sizes which might extend over a 3 year period!
Growth of plants in the annual flower house is amazing as the warm, much longer sunny days of the winter. Some shipments of small flower “plugs”
(as they are called) were delayed by the grower from which we purchase many of the patented flowers so that it looked as though the pots and hanging baskets would be delayed which now is not the case with the favorable weather. Fortunately rain has been adequate as the outside stock has to be irrigated almost everyday with water that is both recycled and the result of rainfall runoff from the nursery property.
The thousands of tulips for May bloom may come early as a late April bloom due to the warm push of weather this spring. While not quite the Keukenhof Gardens in Holland, they still make quite a show as these bloomers “show off their skills.”
Tom
For other business, the receipt and then potting of thousands of small shrubs from Michigan must be accomplished so that stock will be available later in the summer and next year. Some of the small shrubs will be continually repotted into bigger containers in order to achieve larger finished sizes which might extend over a 3 year period!
Growth of plants in the annual flower house is amazing as the warm, much longer sunny days of the winter. Some shipments of small flower “plugs”
(as they are called) were delayed by the grower from which we purchase many of the patented flowers so that it looked as though the pots and hanging baskets would be delayed which now is not the case with the favorable weather. Fortunately rain has been adequate as the outside stock has to be irrigated almost everyday with water that is both recycled and the result of rainfall runoff from the nursery property.
The thousands of tulips for May bloom may come early as a late April bloom due to the warm push of weather this spring. While not quite the Keukenhof Gardens in Holland, they still make quite a show as these bloomers “show off their skills.”
Tom
Friday, April 14, 2017
Dayton "Dirt" - April 14, 2017
How strange an April with about 3-4 inches of snow last Friday and a low of 26º F at the nursery and the very next day it’s sunny and warm!
Many shipments of stock are arriving from Lake County growers as well as being moved out of the overwintering huts. Unfortunately, many customers have been asking for items not out of storage yet which can make things difficult as much of the stock is tightly jammed in the huts making it difficult to access one or two items. Then there is the preparation of Easter flowers this week in addition to the receipt of nursery stock! To make matters more exciting, the irrigation system needed some major emergency repairs in order to water the overwintering huts and sales yard as some plants were very “thirsty.”
The new digital catalog seems to be of interest with gardeners as over a four-day period there have been 6,000 views. Another positive note is that the new plant kiosk call the Perfect Plant seems to be working faster as it has been hard wired to the “system” instead of depending upon the wifi.
As anyone can see, spring preparation in a nursery is a lot of work! As my friend and mentor Mr. John Ravenstein who was the head propagator for Losely nursery had said long ago: “I had four daughters and if I had had a son I would never tell him to go into the nursery business.” When I ask Mr. Ravenstein why not, he stated, “this business is too much work!”
Tom
Many shipments of stock are arriving from Lake County growers as well as being moved out of the overwintering huts. Unfortunately, many customers have been asking for items not out of storage yet which can make things difficult as much of the stock is tightly jammed in the huts making it difficult to access one or two items. Then there is the preparation of Easter flowers this week in addition to the receipt of nursery stock! To make matters more exciting, the irrigation system needed some major emergency repairs in order to water the overwintering huts and sales yard as some plants were very “thirsty.”
The new digital catalog seems to be of interest with gardeners as over a four-day period there have been 6,000 views. Another positive note is that the new plant kiosk call the Perfect Plant seems to be working faster as it has been hard wired to the “system” instead of depending upon the wifi.
As anyone can see, spring preparation in a nursery is a lot of work! As my friend and mentor Mr. John Ravenstein who was the head propagator for Losely nursery had said long ago: “I had four daughters and if I had had a son I would never tell him to go into the nursery business.” When I ask Mr. Ravenstein why not, he stated, “this business is too much work!”
Tom
Friday, April 7, 2017
Dayton "Dirt" - April 7, 2017
Next week starts the beginning of filling up the sales yard at the nursery as shrubs will be pulled from the over-wintering structures and truck loads of stock will be received from nurseries in Lake County.
This past week though has seen the repotting of about 1500 small azaleas and yes even more perennials and blueberries. Mountain Laurels are next to be potted and must be placed in a special site so that they are not irrigated with the other plants as they must be kept drier by receiving only one-half the irrigation.
After the seemingly never ending set up of the sales yard comes the shipments of many varieties of shrubs from Michigan nurseries that will be potted for later summer, fall and spring sales. Many of these shrubs are of the proven Winner brand that require the white Proven Winner pot. These pots are such that the nursery grower will only ship enough pots for the particular plants ordered. In this way, it would be difficult to propagate new plants from the ones received from the nursery and thus the patent on these plants is better protected form illegal propagation. In fact, when ordering the patented Proven Winner shrubs or flowers, the nursery grower makes it quite clear up front that the order confirms that the customer (Dayton’s) agrees to place the plants in the PW pots and will not illegally propagate the plants!
The hyacinths and narcissus at the nursery are in bloom to be followed in a few weeks by the thousands of tulips planted last fall. It’s too bad for the deer though as their tulip salad was sprayed by another application of deer repellent last week!
Tom
This past week though has seen the repotting of about 1500 small azaleas and yes even more perennials and blueberries. Mountain Laurels are next to be potted and must be placed in a special site so that they are not irrigated with the other plants as they must be kept drier by receiving only one-half the irrigation.
After the seemingly never ending set up of the sales yard comes the shipments of many varieties of shrubs from Michigan nurseries that will be potted for later summer, fall and spring sales. Many of these shrubs are of the proven Winner brand that require the white Proven Winner pot. These pots are such that the nursery grower will only ship enough pots for the particular plants ordered. In this way, it would be difficult to propagate new plants from the ones received from the nursery and thus the patent on these plants is better protected form illegal propagation. In fact, when ordering the patented Proven Winner shrubs or flowers, the nursery grower makes it quite clear up front that the order confirms that the customer (Dayton’s) agrees to place the plants in the PW pots and will not illegally propagate the plants!
The hyacinths and narcissus at the nursery are in bloom to be followed in a few weeks by the thousands of tulips planted last fall. It’s too bad for the deer though as their tulip salad was sprayed by another application of deer repellent last week!
Tom
Friday, March 31, 2017
Dayton "Dirt" - March 31, 2017
With April 1st tomorrow, things have readily geared up in the temperature department as well as the work amount and work speed at the nursery. Massive amounts of bare-root trees and shrubs have arrived that must be handled quickly as the bare roots are subject to drying out that will cause death to the plants. After preparation of trimming, tagging and root pruning, the stock must be potted in our mix consisting of pine bark that is mixed with sphagnum peat and certain fertilizers.
They are then ready for sale around July 4th, or, sometimes, not until next spring.
As the above process of potting goes on, stock out of the over-wintering huts must be pulled out and more truck loads of purchased stock still are arriving.
On the greenhouse front, flowers still need trimmed, planted, moved and spaced as these flowers are ready for the greenhouse opening about May 1st. The cold weather of the previous week has slowed down the flowering and growth of plants on the outside although now much of the required degree days, as it is called, has been achieved already causing the environment to “wake up”. The advent of the spring awakening was celebrated long ago onApril 1st by that date being chosen as the first of the new year. With an act of Parliament in the year 1759, January 1st was declared the beginning of the new year.
With the above change, does that mean the father of our country, George Washington was born not on February 22, 1732 but February 22, 1733? Or why would his birth date in the family bible be given as February 5, 1732? Who knows!
Spring is here.
Tom
They are then ready for sale around July 4th, or, sometimes, not until next spring.
As the above process of potting goes on, stock out of the over-wintering huts must be pulled out and more truck loads of purchased stock still are arriving.
On the greenhouse front, flowers still need trimmed, planted, moved and spaced as these flowers are ready for the greenhouse opening about May 1st. The cold weather of the previous week has slowed down the flowering and growth of plants on the outside although now much of the required degree days, as it is called, has been achieved already causing the environment to “wake up”. The advent of the spring awakening was celebrated long ago onApril 1st by that date being chosen as the first of the new year. With an act of Parliament in the year 1759, January 1st was declared the beginning of the new year.
With the above change, does that mean the father of our country, George Washington was born not on February 22, 1732 but February 22, 1733? Or why would his birth date in the family bible be given as February 5, 1732? Who knows!
Spring is here.
Tom
Friday, March 24, 2017
Dayton "Dirt" - March 24, 2017
Now that the Vernal equinox is past, the spring season has begun with daylight hours now longer than the nights. Soon it will be time to stop lighting tuberous begonias and dahlias in the greenhouse as the longer daylight hours will ensure that the plants will make growth for flowering instead of the energy going to tuber formation during shorter days.
Truckloads of stock have arrived all this past week as we scurry to set up the sales yard. Much of the stock though has not been placed on the on-line inventory in order to discourage sales (ironically) as during the unloading process, loaders and wagons are going full tilt which can make for a dangerous situation for anyone in the area.
The previous week of bitter cold placed some chores on hold so that the hurried pace of the early spring is even more accelerated.
Most of the new perennial flower stock has been potted as late last week thousands of plants arrived all at once causing the potting assembly to ramp up into high gear. Relatively cool temperatures so far are keeping a lid on a quick spring flush especially after such an abnormally warm February.
Soon the new on-line catalog will be posted with all the beautiful photos of the stock just in time for spring sales. To say the least, it’s been a very busy winter getting ready for spring.
Tom
Truckloads of stock have arrived all this past week as we scurry to set up the sales yard. Much of the stock though has not been placed on the on-line inventory in order to discourage sales (ironically) as during the unloading process, loaders and wagons are going full tilt which can make for a dangerous situation for anyone in the area.
The previous week of bitter cold placed some chores on hold so that the hurried pace of the early spring is even more accelerated.
Most of the new perennial flower stock has been potted as late last week thousands of plants arrived all at once causing the potting assembly to ramp up into high gear. Relatively cool temperatures so far are keeping a lid on a quick spring flush especially after such an abnormally warm February.
Soon the new on-line catalog will be posted with all the beautiful photos of the stock just in time for spring sales. To say the least, it’s been a very busy winter getting ready for spring.
Tom
Friday, March 17, 2017
Dayton "Dirt" - March 17, 2017
Winter’s last gasp (hopefully) is done at least concerning minimum low temperatures in the teens. Snow is another matter as Lake Erie is unfrozen and strong winds from the north could bring additional snow to southern Summit County and areas even farther south through April. As far as the plant business, snow is not a bad thing with great insulating power during cold and especially clear nights. Still the “show must go on” as delaying work in the greenhouse is not possible as stock keeps arriving for transplanting and our rooted cuttings will not fare well in their small cells if not transplanted soon enough. Fortunately, all roses were potted just before the onset of the cold so that now they are safely tucked in a covered house with a small heater that keeps the temperature from falling no lower than 28ºF. The cool period during rooting is necessary in order to retard growth of the plants in order that the roots can grow and expand to fill the pot and support the top growth later. Once fully rooted in the pot and a moderate amount of short growth in early May and once they have gone through a process called hardening-off in which the roses will be ventilated continuously in order to get them used to wind and cool if not cold temperatures at night and conversely bright sunshine of the day, they are ready for sale.
Removal of the vinyl tree guards on trees over-wintered outside has been delayed at least a week due to the abnormally low temperatures. Young trees used to the guards that are put on in December to protect the bark from hungry rabbits could suddenly experience a bark split if low temperatures in the teens or lower combined with an early rising sun which results in a temperature difference between the sunny side and the early morning shaded side.
One aspect of this past cold week is that for sure the quick rush of spring due to the weird warm weather in February and early March, will definitely be slowed.
As the sun returns to the north to rise earlier and set later, the newly installed solar panels are entering their high production period of April through September in which they will send more power to the grid than is used in the greenhouse operations at least for the one meter. It’s good to know that for every one of these solar kilowatts produced means coal that is not mined and burned for the production of electricity.
As the sun returns to the north to rise earlier and set later, the newly installed solar panels are entering their high production period of April through September in which they will send more power to the grid than is used in the greenhouse operations at least for the one meter. It’s good to know that for every one of these solar kilowatts produced means coal that is not mined and burned for the production of electricity.
With St. Patrick’s Day here, today is the day to plant peas. What “they” don’t tell you is how do you plant peas if the ground is frozen! LOL!
Tom
Tom
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
