By Leslie Cox

Special to the Record

It is always helpful to look back on the year just past in the garden to remind the gardener of the best 鈥� and the worst 鈥� of what happened.

Speaking for myself, my memory recall is not as clear as it could be. The years are beginning to run together so thank goodness for my gardening notes.

I do remember there was not nearly as much snow in January 2023 as in the previous year but had to look up the difference: half a centimetre (0.2 inches) versus 48.2 cm (19 inches) in January 2022.

Temperatures most nights last January were in negative territory and I remember it remained quite cold through to the end of April with not much extra warmth in May.

I measured 10.5 inches (262 mm) of rain for April so it was not the best weather to tackle our major project for spring 2023 鈥� redo the pond and move the stream over about three feet (one metre).

Some heavy machinery would have been a real help with the project but the only machine that fits through our gates is the man-powered wheelbarrow. So, at least the rocks did not have to be moved one by one, but it still took numerous loads to shift the several hundred pounds of rock.

Needless to say, April simply flew by and the extra pounds gained from winter indulgence melted away with the pond project added onto the already busy spring gardening schedule.

May arrived and we were nearing the part where we could lay the new pond liner. Thank goodness the project was nearing completion as my poor goldfish needed to get out of their bucket and back into their more natural environment. (First time in their lives I had to feed them.)

Unfortunately, disaster struck just as the last folds were being neatly arranged in a curve of the pond which necessitated a trip to Emergency. I had torn the tendon in my finger. Dang. I knew what this meant as it was almost 29 years to the month when I tore my rotator cuff. Mind you, it was not nearly as bad a tear but still a decently long haul in the repair department. In gardening season!

To quote Charlie Brown, 鈥淎rrgghh!鈥�

Having a finger in a splint is definitely an impediment in any job 鈥� not the least of which is gardening. It certainly made dividing and repotting the plants in my big ceramic pots, for example, very difficult if it were not for John鈥檚 help. But he also had his chores to do.

About the same time in May, we started noticing smoke haze in the air. Checking the provincial wildfire website, there were over 1,000 more wildfires this year than in 2021 and almost a full 2,000,000 more hectares were burned. (No mention of wildfire numbers for 2022.)

According to the same website, 72 per cent of the 2023 fires were natural-caused: a big clue that our changing climate is showing its strength. And as every gardener has likely noticed, monthly rainfall amounts have been declining over the years.

For the remainder of 2023, I will be thinking about what more we, personally, can do to help save our planet. Planning the vegetable garden is at the top of the list and going through my seed packets, noting what seeds I need to purchase at our local Seedy Saturday in March.

There is no better way to wrap up one year and look ahead to the new year coming than sorting the seeds from this year to sow the bounty that will come next year.

Happy Growing Season in 2024!

Leslie Cox co-owns Growing Concern Cottage Garden in Black Creek. Her website is at www.duchessofdirt.ca