It’s been a busy month for us in the Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard. July always brings a burst of growth, and this year, with all the rain, our garden turned into a jungle! With all that lush growth came plenty of weeds, so we’ve been hard at work clearing them out.
It’s been “Operation Save the Spirea” as we worked to rescue these long-established shrubs with their pink flowers and lime green leaves from a sea of weeds. Clearing the weeds around our plants ensures they get the air circulation they need, reducing the risk of issues like powdery mildew. It’s a bit of a battle, but it’s all worth it to see these beauties thrive again.
In the north of the pollinator garden, echinacea grew from seed at the front of the bed, blocking out our hostas and other shorter plants. We’ve removed the echinacea which will go to other gardens. Then we created a stunning multi-colored hosta collection at in their place.
We’ve had some extra magic this month from our fantastic volunteer, Giselle, affectionately known as “the native plant fairy.” She’s been nurturing beautiful native plants from seed and adding them to our garden. Here’s what we’ve introduced recently:
- Wild bee balm (Monarda fistulosa)
- Giant yellow hyssop (Agastache nepetoides)
- Wild columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)
- Smooth blue aster (Symphyotrichum laeve)
- Butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa)
- Woodland sunflower (Helianthus divaricatus)
- Upland goldenrod (Solidago ptarmacoides)
Our next big task is to keep these baby plants well-watered. We’ve got a rota set up, and we’d love your help. If you can join us, and come to water the plants once a week, please give us a shout at growingforgreen (at) gmail.com and we will show you what to do.
Lastly, we started to harvest our old yellow plum tree. We’ve started picking the first ripe plums, with more to come in the days ahead. It’s a delicious reward for all our hard work!
If you want to join us in the orchard or help out with watering, shoot us an email at growingforgreen (at) gmail.com. We’d love to have you on board!
Susan Poizner is one of the volunteers for The Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard in Toronto. She is the creator of the fruit tree care education website OrchardPeople.com. Susan is the author of four fruit tree care books including Grow Fruit Trees Fast: A Beginner’s Guide to a Healthy Harvest in Record Time. She is also the host of the Orchard People podcast and an ISA Certified Arborist.