by Cynthia Sim
July is coming to a close in the midst of a heat wave which has many of us huddled in our homes, waiting for the cooling period in the evenings that we expect and hope to see. Interspersed with thunderstorms and heavy rain, the hot weather has resulted in an explosion of growth at the community garden. It has also been a challenge for our small group of gardeners as we strive to keep our raised garden beds watered adequately during this time. Many of our group are either on vacation or scheduled for time away in August but, with the support of those of us remaining in town, most of the beds have been protected from severely drying out. While caring for their own garden beds is foremost on their minds, the gardeners have also spent considerable time on the plants in the perimeter of the garden, making sure they were also adequately watered. The perimeter plants are mainly perennials and throughout the season, their bright flowers add various colours to the mainly green landscape. The tall orange daylilies, first planted in 2010, are in full bloom now and seem to love this heat. We were also delighted to receive donations of additional daylilies to replace the Stella d’Oro plants that were previously removed and the potentilla that had finally succumbed, likely to old age!
We had a great turnout at our garden cleanup session in July, and the garden looked much neater at the end of the morning’s efforts. As we move on into September, we anticipate the ripening of the raspberries and the Saskatoons and perhaps a few more cherries from our small cherry bushes. The apple trees also appear to have produced quite a few apples which should ripen in September. Some impatient souls have already sampled the apples, but usually only with one bite as they are certainly not tasty yet! Our strawberries continue to produce flowers and fruit, and gardeners are starting to harvest their crops of vegetables. The season looks fruitful indeed.
