Friday, November 9, 2018 5Brooklin Town Crier Drop In and See Our New Look! Blooming in Brooklin By Ken Brown Wondrous Ainwick Gardens I readily admit to having visited too many gardens during my career, which has left me a bit jaded. It's why touring Alnwick Gardens in the north east of England during a recent trip to visit grand daughters was such a treat. Alnwick also has the second largest occupied castle in England, which we did not tour. Located less than an hour from the Newcastle upon Tyne airport, Ainwick's extensive use of espalier was amazing. Espalier is a technique of training deciduous trees or shrubs, usually fruit trees, along wires or other supports to create a shape. This is often done to keep them flat against a wall or fence to increase the harvest with minimal use of space. Tunnels and jets Alnwick has taken the technique to entirely new levels. There were hundreds of metres of tunnels, about 3-4 metres tall, made from Hornbeam trees trained over wire supports. They were impressive even without most of their leaves. Many of these tunnels ran up both sides of a water feature called the Grand Cascade, which pushes over 7000 gallons of water per minute through a series of ponds down a hillside. Within these ponds are a myriad of jets that put on a rotating show of dancing water. When we returned, there was much gardening to be done. Though no severe frosts here while we were away, the dahlias and colocasia were looking pretty sad. It was definitely time to throw their tops into the compost and dig up their tubers. They get packed in the paper from our shredder and stored in a large box in the cool part of the basement. They don't want to be really cold and certainly cannot freeze. C-c-c-cold water I've procrastinated on another chore that's now become unpleasant. All the vegetation in the ponds should be removed so that it doesn't just settle to the bottom and create smelly ooze. This means reaching into cold water and cutting the lily stems as close to the bottom as possible. Brrrr!! The fish spend winter in the ponds happily nestled under the ice and kept alive by a small bubbler that pumps in fresh air to counteract the gases that the decomposing vegetation produces. As the leaves fall, they'll be raked into windrows and then run over with the lawnmower to mulch them. The mulched leaves will then be spread over the surface of the vegetable and perennial beds. Not only is it great compost but it also provides homes for a lot of beneficial insects that want to overwinter in our gardens. The garden centres have their bulbs on sale and it's not too late to plant them. On the next sunny day, plant some spring beauty. Community Calendar Sun., Nov. 18: Mt. Zion United Church's annual turkey supper Seatings at 5:00 pm & 6:30 pm. Tickets $18 for adults, $5 for children 12 and under. For tickets, call (905) 649-5200. We are located at 3000 Concession 8 (just east of Salem Road). Fri., Nov. 23: 4:00 - 5:00 pm (4th Friday of each month) Teen Leadership Council at Brooklin Library Whitby Library's Brooklin Branch seeks Teen Leadership Council members to share ideas & assist with special events and programs. Grade 9-12 students earn community service hours. Snacks pro- vided. No registration required. For information, email teenservices@ whitbylibrary.ca. Sun., Nov. 25: 12 - 4 pm - Christmas Market At Brooklin Village PS. Hosted by Whitby Chiefs baseball team Fri., Dec. 14 - Sun., Dec. 16: "Home for Christmas" - a Musical At Brooklin United Church Tickets $20 for adults and $12 for children 12 and under from eztix.com/christmas. Show dates/times: Fri., Dec. 14 - 7:30 pm Sat., Dec. 15 - 3 pm and 7:30 pm Sun., Dec. 16 - 3 pm French Family Storytime: Children and their caregivers can join Madame Sue for weekly French Family Storytime! A half hour of French stories and songs, with a dash of English! Drop in at Central Library's Children's Program Room Tuesdays: 7:25 pm: Brooklin Toastmas- ters Club Practice public speaking at Brooklin Com- munity Centre & Library. Contact John Johnstone at jajhj@sympatico.ca or phone 905-683-4439 or Patricia Romano at promano257@outlook.com or phone 905-626-7055. 1st & 3rd Tuesdays Community Care Durham (CCD)