Dayton "Dirt" - April 22, 2011

It’s strange that Easter is this Sunday on April 24th in that it seems incredibly late and nearly time to plant annual flowers and heat loving vegetable plants like peppers and tomatoes.

The greenhouse of annual flowers and vegetable plants will be open tomorrow on April 23rd but please don’t expect everything to be ready as you must remember that it’s still too early in the season.

Much of flower production is aimed to mid-May availability as it should be because of the increased likelihood of favorable weather. I hope you like our new display of Easter flowers and tropicals in the first bay of our greenhouse as it was time for a change.

Don’t forget today is Earth Day as it’s been celebrated every April 22nd since the first Earth Day in 1970. Earth Day is a reminder that if we don’t take care of our environment, it won’t take care of us.

In the book Wilderness Warrior about Theodore Roosevelt, it’s quite amazing that one of our most fascinating President’s was able to set aside vast tracts of land for future generations of Americans as he swept aside a landslide of dissent because of mining, logging and numerous other commercial interests. In the early 20th century, he was truly the environmental President. To celebrate Earth Day, planting a tree for you and future generations to enjoy is a capital idea.

While in the news it is popular to discuss environmentally friendly ways for more energy production it is less common to hear that the planting of trees is a method of combating all kinds of environmental ills from excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, soil and water erosion, flooding, destruction of wildlife habit and declining clean water supplies.

For more about the benefits of trees you have to check out the Why Trees Matter Program that Jim Chatfield , the Ohio State University specialist has championed. The poem that begins “ I think that I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree” by Joyce Kilmer is figuratively and literally true.

Tom