Dayton "Dirt" - October 12, 2012

Being the week of Columbus Day, with its typical October weather of cool and moist, it’s now the perfect time for planting most trees, shrubs and flower bulbs. One new tree we have in the fall is the Baby Blue Spruce that is a seed selection that grows very uniformly. In fact, the tree attains a maximum height of 12-14’ and half as wide giving it a nice medium taper just like the perfect yet elusive cut Christmas tree. Another attribute of the Baby Blue Spruce is the intense blue color of the medium length needles which makes it stand out in the landscape. And finally, this spruce needs little or no trimming in order to retain its fullness as it naturally grows thick and full. Mums are still available and most likely will be until October’s end. At the nursery, you’ll still find a wide selection of trees and shrubs; however, in early November, we will be putting the plants “to bed” in our over-wintering storage houses but they will still be available for later fall sales. Another job to complete this fall is the planting of two more 300 foot long rows of blueberries for our upcoming pick-you-own operation. The varieties we will plant are Pink Lemonade, Toro and Blue Jay which are profuse bearers of delicious fruit on a vigorous rugged bush. We’re amending the soil with lots of peat moss and some sweet peet to improve the ground’s tilth and to create an acidic soil in which blueberries just love! I’m anxious to try a new food grade product next year that is applied by a spray to prevent an onslaught of robins, blackbirds and geese that just love blueberries as much as people! The product does not harm the birds but supposedly is distasteful so much that they’ll stay afar. I’ll keep you posted. Tom