Friday, May 26, 2017 9Brooklin Town Crier Hot/Cold - Wet/Dry - And The Fair Blooming in Brooklin By Ken Brown Gardeners and the weather have a bit of a love/hate relationship that changes as often as the weather. Though there would seem to be no good or bad weather for a gardener, there certainly can be some poorly timed weather patterns. I've learned long ago Mother Nature really has no use for my schedule and so we gardeners really must learn to work with hers. For instance, a week ago, we had mid-summer heat and curl- your-petunias cold. Interestingly, neither is completely bad nor good. The elongated cool period this spring has precluded any ideas of planting the tomatoes, yet it's given a wonderful extended life to the tulip blooms. Good water table While the rains have kept the garden too wet to work in, a couple of near 300 C days quickly dried the surface soil and left a well-charged water table that should help us get through the expected hot dry summer days. On the many cool days, there were lots of chores to be done that would have been difficult in the heat. Still, the pansies thrived. And those hot days made the asparagus come charging out of the soil to provide the perfect accompaniment to barbecue meat. My neighbours are amazed at how good the fronts of our yards look. The Town laid sod in early December and we had an informal betting pool on its survival rate. We all lost because it wintered very well and is thick and rich and green this spring, making some of the rest of our turf look sad in comparison. However, poorly parked cars, snowplows and next winter's salt will not be kind to lush green stuff so we're all investigating alternatives. New garden That fresh sod is now filling in some blank spots in my backyard and a whole new garden has been created at the edge of the road. Strange place for a garden? Yes! I removed the sod and placed several large pieces of flagstone sticking vertically out of the ground. In between, I planted some of the many varieties of sempervivum ssp (hens and chicks) that are part of the current fascination with succulents. These are some of the toughest plants available. They like lots of sun, don't care about soil quality, and will withstand considerable drought. They can also be physically abused, happily re-grow and spread rapidly as well. Then I mulched the whole garden with pea gravel to complete the durable look and feel. It's a tad unorthodox, but I think it looks great and it should serve its purpose. Finally, that weekend approaches: Spring Fair. It means more to Brooklin residents than to almost anywhere else you might live. All the years I've lived around Brooklin have been made more interesting by the first weekend in June. The Fair has had some changes though its traditions stay the same. It's fun to reflect on it all. Building floats with the Brooklin Horticultural Society; worrying about my teenagers going alone for the first time; winning a prize by driving in a nail with one swing at Mitchell Lumber's booth; and, more recently, enjoying the exhibits in the arena, including the flower and vegetable competitions. I've never won a prize there, however, it's always curious to see what other people are growing, to meet other gardeners and, of course, to critique the judge's choices. Maybe this is my year.