HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1969-04-24, Page 131
122nd YEAR -.1
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It
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Thursday, April 24, 1969'
SECOND ECTI"Oa
Story and photos by Paul Carrofl
Open to the sun - it's 90° inside
4
Transplanting one 'by one
011.4nlnlril,wu7
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Seedlings need 24-hour tare
Oh! for a greener ,thumb
Did you• ever stop to think
about those. bedding -out plants
you buy every year at this time':
Needless to say, most of us
just pick out the lushest,
greenest boxes and transfer the
plants to our meagre gardens
with a hope and a prayer that
good old Mother Nature will do
the rest. Come July, wemight.at
last get aroun.d to • looking at
them again; only to find them
over -run with.. those weeds that
we were going to pull each week
until now. And finally, by
August, we might exercise our
green thumbs a little, if only to'
eradicatethe weeds and allow
the maturing, flowers to give.
their colourful show for the
remaining weeks of summer.
If we were aware of the work
that went into each box of these
plants and realized the times
effort, and worry that original y
encouraged the tiny seedlings
along, swe might spend more
time caring for them and taking
pride in the bright, accents they
provide for the garden. Oh-, for a
greener thumb! "
Bert Munday, a widower,
who is a Goderich resident; has
become a part-time gardener
since retiring from his radio -TV
repair business a few years ago.
He has constructed a small
greenhouse and several hot beds.
At this time of year he is busy
sowing, growing', *and
transplanting seedlings to don_his
small part to satisfy an
ever-growing Consumer demand
for bedding -out plants.
Mr.' Munday's work begins in
the 'middle of winter. He collects
scrap. orange crates and
re -assembles them into small
boxes suitable for holding 18 to -
27 -.seedlings. In the past two
years, however, the carpentry
work has been reduced with the
innovation of "peat -packs,' a
pressed paper carton. They are
fader to work witkrclaims Mr.
Munday, and itis quite apparent
that the slivers are eliminated
anyway.
At the, end of February5, as
the sun begins to get higher in
the sky, he begins to - shovel a
pathway through the snow to
the greenhouse at the back of his
home on Widder Street.
A little bit of heat gives
enough warmth in the glassed -in
building to start,filling large flats
with . a secret sand-soil-peat-
ferfilizer miscture and, of course,
a sprinkling`Qf seed on top.
The seeds, especially the
hybrid varieties, .are very
expensive, but Mr. Munday
attempts to grow several, new
numbers each year. A new
hybrid that was not so successful
was a Butterfly Snap that
produces a five -petal ,floret
instead of the dragon -type of
closed flower: It grows on a tall
spike as well, but, only a few
seeds germinated.
Greenhouse gardening is not
without its unpredictable
hazards. A season rarely goes by
without some destructive
element affecting the seedlings,
Very often "damping -off," a
fungus disease will destroy ,
hundreds of the young plants
and seeding has to start all over
again. The weather and
especially the • humidity _ are
important factors..
LO
As the flats of seedlings get '
larger, each plant must be
transplanted into the smaller
boxes to allow sturdier
development. Countless hours of
work . are involved in this
process. The . transplanted
seedlings are then hardened off,
or, acclimatized to the outdoor
weather. They are then moved
into the outdoor hotbeds for'
further growth and to await
their final trip to the consumers'
gardens.
Mr. M u nday revealed,
"Continual care and constant
worry are all I can give to
encourage the plants along. I
really play a small part; Mother
Nature does the work."
XXI
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A drop or two of water helps
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Bedding out perenfiars
The payoff - blooms