Last year our garden was used and, indeed, needed more than ever by both our own parishioners and the wider community.  In the spring and summer as the pandemic closed the city playgrounds and as High Park was barred for three weeks (during cherry blossom season) our St. Martin’s garden provided a safe and very welcome green space.

Despite the difficult times, the garden volunteers worked all growing season.  They worked masked and apart keeping to all safety regulations imposed by the City and the province. Weeding, planting and pruning continued unabated despite the health crisis and the many regulations.

The boxwood moth caused problems to our many boxwood plants this summer. Patty McKnight arranged for a specialist from Landscape Ontario to view our shrubs and we were told that all of them had evidence of this destructive insect.  We were especially concerned about the boxwood cross on our green roof as this insect destroys the plants on which it feeds. The only preventative is spraying with a special insecticide. A volunteer took on this job which meant he had to spray all our impacted shrubs every two weeks all summer.

We hope to save all our plants especially our green roof cross by spraying in 2021 also.

Thanks go to all our garden volunteers who watered and cleaned the garden tirelessly all summer to the benefit of the many community members who use the space.

Once again many spring bulbs were planted in the fall.  This should lead to a spectacular show in a few weeks for if we ever need a burst of colour and life, it is in this year of Covid.

If you look carefully, you will see that snowdrops are popping out of the church ground, a sure sign that spring and warmer times are indeed coming.

Thanks to all Tuesday morning garden volunteers.

Garden co-ordinators

• Ingrid Whitaker
• Patty McKnight

Early Spring 2020

May

May

June