Dayton "Dirt" November 20, 2009

Even though everything has just about shut down for winter, our Azaleas, Rhododendron and Mountain Laurel “youngsters”, many of which we propagated last summer, are doing well in a cool greenhouse as they are developing quite a root system.

We give them a low concentration of a liquid feed we mix up ourselves that is a “dark weather” feed as it is high in nitrate nitrogen as opposed to the ammonium form of which is commonly used in the warm growing season. Your houseplants would do well with a fertilizer low in ammonical nitrogen too at this time of year as there is less chance of root injury.

We’re in full swing now into making grave blankets and I’ll be delivering many to local cemeteries just before Thanksgiving.

I always call my customer after I deliver their blanket or grave pillow and I remember on one occasion that I delivered one to Greenlawn cemetery in which the customer called me back to tell me that there was no blanket on the grave!

I remember specifically placing the blanket on that particular grave then when I returned to check out the problem, someone had dragged the blanket 300 feet to the east to another grave as evidenced by the snow trail.

Fortunately, the above problem is rare, at least at Christmas time.

This year I’ll miss my uncle George as we traveled together to Burton, Ohio to decorate the graves of my great grandparents Susan and George L. Dayton and then drove south about a hundred miles to Coshocoton to decorate the grave of my great uncle Hughe Dayton. Unfortunately, my Uncle George will need a blanket on his grave as he passed away in March.

Maybe you have potatoes and some other root vegetables in the ground or stored and some canned goods or frozen vegetables that came out of your garden. Just think how wonderful it will be when you can show off your own produce to your extended family and friends at Thanksgiving!

Our cut trees will be her next week and will start setting them up for sale the day after Thanksgiving.

Even though for most of us, 2009 hasn’t been that great financially. Just remember to count your blessings as they almost always outweigh the negatives.

Happy gardening,
Tom