Fall reflections on the summer of 2016

The Scarboro Garden Scene
Fall reflections on the summer of 2016

It has been another remarkable summer: hot mornings and wet the rest of the day: turns out that was great for many plants, a nuisance for many of us who look for afternoon and evening outdoor pursuits, and a great time for slugs, although some apparent slug damage could have also been hail damage too. One short, amusing and useful book to look at for ideas about slugs, and deterrents from other pests is Jeff Gillman’s “The truth about garden remedies – what works what doesn’t & why”: it is really an eye opener.

It was a year for bumper annual produce –see photos of Swiss chard, apples and nasturtiums (thanks, Olga, Cathy and Nadine), in fact maybe too much fruit to use. The early, dry spring necessitated additional watering, but after that things grew so much that many of us need to relocate plants that outgrew their allotted space. In a normal year we need to re-assess our design and plan for renewal and replacement of older shrubs and trees.

One thing I have enjoyed seeing this year was the planting of poppies along the median on Memorial Drive: poppies do so well in Calgary, and offer such wonderful autumn and winter seed heads for decoration. Many self-seed, so put them on your shopping list for next spring: buy them on line from Canada, the UK, or USA.

Glynn Wright.

Word count = 228, September 21, 2016

File: vol 6, # 8 .docx