#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. The calendar summer has come. Soon the townspeople will enjoy warm days, bask in the sun at the campsite or even dive into one of the deepest freshwater lakes in Russia – Lama. And for those who rarely travel to nature, thousands of flowers are planted in the city every year in order to maximize the decoration of the short polar summer.
Individual entrepreneur Mikhail Popov is a person thanks to whom the summer in Norilsk is not devoid of the nature colors. About ten years he has been growing and planting flower seedlings: salvia, petunia, phlox, ageratum and, of course, marigolds. Only few people guess what efforts it takes.
Mikhail Popov says that seeds sown in greenhouses in early April. In 20-25 days they germinate up to 5-10 centimeters, then they grow and gain strength for one and a half to two months, after that they move to city streets and courtyards in late June or early July, usually before the City Day. At the same time, certain weather conditions needed for planting – the average daily air temperature is not lower than plus 12, and the soil is plus 10 degrees.
“The soil is very hard. We take a motor-drill, drill a hole, bring our own soil, fill it and land it. And for planting a tree, you really need a jackhammer, since everywhere there is mainly rock dump or clay with boulders. With a hammer, we make a planting hole with a volume of 100-200 liters, fill it with our soil and plant a tree”, Mikhail Popov shared.
The entrepreneur complains that, besides weather, vandals spoil the appearance of the city – they tear flowers from the lawns:
“Ten years ago, when we just started doing flowers in Norilsk, a lot of plants suffered from vandalism. Over time, people began to respect our work more, and the situation is improving”.
However, Mikhail added, another attack came to replace the vandals – dog lovers, who do not care where to walk their pet. The animal digs the ground and thus destroys the flowers, which are difficult to take root in the North.
Now 100-120 thousand flowers are waiting to get planted out into the flowerbeds. The entrepreneur plans to plant more than 5.6 thousand square meters of greenery this year.
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Text: Mikhail Tuaev, Photo: Nikolay Shchipko
