When is the best time to plant? We say spring or fall, and those are good times for a perennial, shrub or tree to make a transition from one growing environment to another. In spring, the plant is in good condition when you buy it from the garden centre, and it’s revving up to jump into the race for maximum growth over the summer. In fall, the plant can settle in for winter’s long rest, and be in place and ready for action the next year. 

It was lovely, watching the rain come down. It started around 6:30 pm two nights ago and continued intermittently yesterday. It met the puddle test, but when I went to scratch the soil, barely half an inch of moisture had soaked in; underneath, dust. Altogether, Wednesday and Thursday, I estimated three quarters of an inch of rain had fallen. Not enough to make a difference. 

Have you had any rain? It’s the first question whenever you meet anyone. A good question in this area east of Georgian Bay, where weather can vary dramatically from one concession road to the next. What a year this has been – the crazy early spring, the frost in May that devastated orchards, and now the drought; the last rain I recorded here was overnight July 7, which was welcome but not huge. There were two instances in the last week of a few drops for a minute or two, but the last significant rain I took note of was in early June – three consecutive days. Two days ago, 20 kilometres away at the south end of the township, I watched rain come down in sheets – for 10 minutes. Within an hour, puddles had disappeared and everything was dry, dry, dry. Not so much as a drop had fallen back here.