Taking the Leap

• Posted on 29 February 2024
• 0

Apply for seasonal employment at Bates Nursery; it’s no leap!

I’m a ‘Leap’ guy.  I was born on a leap year, only missing leap day by a week.  Here’s what the ‘leap’ fuss is all about.

Leap years, incorporating leap days, are designed to align the Gregorian calendar, more closely with the Earth's orbit around the Sun. It takes the Earth approximately 365.24 days to complete one orbit. This fractional day accumulates over time, causing a discrepancy between the calendar year and the solar year. To correct this misalignment, an extra day, February 29, is added to the calendar every four years, making the year 366 days long instead of the usual 365.

However, simply adding a day every four years would overcorrect because the actual solar year is slightly less than 365.25 days. To address this, there's a further refinement: years divisible by 100 are not leap years unless they are also divisible by 400. This last occurred in the year 2000. The average year length is adjusted closer to the actual solar year: approximately 365.2425 days.

Beyond leap days, we have other "leap" periods in timekeeping. We have ‘leap seconds’ added to,or subtracted from, time to compensate for irregularities in Earth's rotation speed, ensuring that our clocks remain in sync with Earth's spin. These adjustments reflect our perpetual efforts to harmonize timekeeping systems with the Earth's natural movements.

Since we now have ‘leap’ clarity, I invite you to ‘bound’ on out and see us!  In the event that takes too long, driving may be the simpler travel method.  You will not be disappointed.  The truckloads of plants, including trees, shrubs, perennials, and much more have arrived, with more arriving daily.

I also extend an invitation to you, to tune in to our growing educational efforts, all based on good gardening fun: Wildflower Gardening, featuring Caroline Gant.  Additionally, Saturday mornings,live at 8 AM, we give discussion and depth to your gardening questions: “Gardening Inside Out”. Listen to our Podcast anytime! Follow and contact us:  Facebook.  Email.  Instagram.  Go ahead, take the leap!

David Bates