YORKTON - The Yorkton and District Horticultural Society is now done with meetings until September.
But we can all visit at our Annual Fruit, Flower and Vegetable show on Wednesday, August 6 at the Parkland Mall in Yorkton. I’ll share more details with you about that as the date gets closer, but mark that date on your calendar! Visit us at www.yorktomhort.ca for more info.
The hort group had our AGM and closing picnic recently. The weather was unsettled but of course that didn’t stop anyone from roaming through our host’s garden and chatting enthusiastically about plants! Later, during our alfresco supper, as thunder began to rumble uncomfortably close, the gardeners just picked up their lawn chairs en masse and moved into the garage without missing a gardening breath! It was great!
I never had the joy of knowing my Grammie, my Mom’s Mom. I think the three of us would have been kindred spirits together. Grammie loved gardening, too, and Mom said that Grammie frequently noticed that the garden grew better when there was a lot of lightning.
Fact or fiction? If you said fact, you’re right. Most of our atmosphere (approximately 78%) is made up of nitrogen, but not a form of nitrogen that our plants can use. Now our science lesson begins.
During a storm with lightning, the energy that comes from the lightning turns the nitrogen into nitric oxide, which bonds to oxygen and becomes nitrogen dioxide, which becomes nitric acid, which comes down to earth with the rain. The rain that falls is full of nitrogen which has now turned into a form that will make our plants very happy. And now class, what does nitrogen do for our plants? It promotes good leaf growth.
The amazing thing is that our atmospheric gas, mostly nitrogen, consists of two atoms that are best friends, bonded very securely, and…here’s the amazing part, the molecules can be broken apart, starting the chain reaction of making use-friendly nitrogen for our plants, by a strike of lightning. Considering that a lightning bolt lasts about one hundred millionth of a second, a lot of work gets done in that short time!
So that’s the abbreviated explanation of how and why storms with lightning do cause our plants to grow better. Of course, Grammie never knew the scientific explanation for this wonderful event. But she was a keen observer of what happened in the garden, as many gardeners are, and noticed that when one thing happened, like lightning, another thing also happened, like better growth. Connecting the two dots was a scientific observation of great importance to her because it happened consistently, and she saw good results!
So now we know!
Now, here’s another garden question: have you heard that watering a plant on a sunny day will cause the leaf to scorch? Fact or fiction? It’s fiction. Sometimes we might think the water evaporates too quickly, which may be true to a certain degree, and might justify leaving the watering till later when the sun is lower. But let’s face it, if the poor plant is wilted and looks in danger of dying, it needs water, not later when the sun goes down , but now! And leaf scorch? No, not happening. Besides, plants take in water through the roots, not the leaves, so we should be watering at soil level.
Science class is done, gardeners! Thank you to YTW for their fine work! Have a good week!
