The disappearance of the iris and the herbs last week certainly caused quite a furor. From the number of emails and calls, whoever took the plants should have shriveled to a cinder by now. It’s odd that the evidence all came at once but it’s
clear that we have a steady stream of visitors going through the gardens. Last Tuesday I found a No.2 red-handled, stubby, Robertson screwdriver in the middle of the rows of onions. It stood out like Rudolph’s nose and I know it wasn’t there when I closed up on Monday afternoon. When we were weeding on Saturday, I also noticed that several of the tulips had been cut off some time ago - not snapped but cut with scissors or a sharp knife. "Here dear. Have a bunch of stolen tulips for Mother’s Day."!

There’s no point in getting too upset about the predation. It doesn’t do anything to deter the thieves but it does spoil your day. Fortunately the numbers are on our side. The ocean is full of sharks but only a few people get eaten. If we plant enough stuff the vandals become - like slugs and raccoons and Colorado beetles - just another pest.

On the accumulation side; Kathy’s daughter, Rebecca, donated a couple of hundred feet of perfectly good large-bore hose along with a number of 4' wooden stakes and a pile of pots. It’s curious how things turn up at just the right moment. When we strung together the new hose and all the other hose we have on reels, they reached from the faucet, at the side of the main building, all the way to Heart Lake Road and we were finally able to get water to the annuals planted around the main sign. While I was laying the hose and watering at the front, Moeen planted several dozen of the dwarf red dahlias and 16 white ones as a border along the concrete path through the wedding garden and that garden got watered also.

With the absolutely ‘must do’ plantings completed last week, we’ve been able to do a bit of catch up and some ‘want to do’ stuff. Thanks to Dick, Joe, Moeen, and Wayne, the big straw pile covering block ‘C’ has been leveled and planted to an eclectic ‘Three Sisters Garden’. Moeen planted the first corn last Monday and it was up a couple of inches by the time we planted the last corn and squash seed yesterday. It is two or three weeks late for planting watermelons and cantaloupes but, if we have an extra long and hot summer, we should get some sort of a crop. The carrots planted with the herbs in the raised bed last Sunday were also showing through yesterday.

The Colorado beetles have been under attack all week. Rocio and Norma were at it Wednesday and Kirsten and her son Dustin picked bugs and scrambled eggs on Friday evening. Foolishly, I thought we were getting the upper hand, but, Sunday after I’d locked up, I took a look and the beetles were out in force. I stayed another hour and picked more than a dozen adults and innumerable newly hatched larvae.

The weeds in the nursery garden have taken quite a beating this week. Joe managed to cut a lot of grass on Saturday and just about everyone has had a hand in felling the jungle which was developing in the middle of block ‘A’. Geoff and Monique spent two hours at it Thursday evening and Myra and I weeded for three hours on Friday. Dustin, Kirsten and Moeen all got thrown into the battle. With the weeds gone, I can dig and store the stray tulips and straighten the beds out. Planting out the perennial seedlings - which are waiting in the cold frame - will be the easy part.

On Friday, Kirsten became the second of this year’s class to reach the magic 14 in-garden hours. The total time put in last week set yet another seven day record - 80 hours. The total time for the year - 602 hours as of 6 p.m. Sunday evening. Brian summed it up when he arrived Sunday afternoon. "Wow. There’s been a lot of work done since I was here last week."

I’ve a column to write today and a dentist appointment Tuesday afternoon but the rest of the week looks like I’m available am and pm. The long weekend I’m available in the afternoons. If anyone wants to do an evening it can be fitted in. If you can make a couple of hours week please email reply or phone preferably before 8am.

PS: Lots of dahlias have found homes but there is still something of everything remaining.