Monday December 7^th, 2015

Weekend Greenhouse Duty Blog

Emily W. and James D.

December 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th

Friday December 4^th

Sales and Pleasant Visits

                Our Friday morning began as a meeting with Jeff Rowley where we were shown the details of the opening procedure. As part of this opening ritual we walked the crop, inspecting each plant in the greenhouse for consistent watering, and removing or setting aside any plant that needs special attention. Another part of walking the crop is to consolidate the poinsettia crop to look full and more appealing to potential customers.

                                             Friday seemed to have a focus on sales, we had many customers walk in and a large order pick-up we needed to prepare for in the afternoon. All of our customers were excited to see the selection and quality of our crop, being able to support the horticulture program was a definite bonus for many visitors.

Emily and I were lucky enough to see a couple familiar faces, the always cheerful and upbeat Mr. Duesbury came to support the program and purchase one of our poinsettias. Perhaps better known as Mr. D. he teaches the first year small engine maintenance and repair class with professionalism and positivity. Despite a spectrum of ability levels in the group, Mr. D. makes the class accessible to everyone while still making it challenging for more experienced students. Second, the dean of the faculty of arts, media, and design, Dr. Helen Pearce stopped in to pick up a poinsettia of her own. Dr. Pearce has had a particular impact on my group in the horticulture program. In first year, she was kind enough to volunteer her own house to be used by our class in our landscape design course. Finally, a former student of the Horticulture program stopped by with a beautiful box of chocolates to share. She has been working in the field for a number of years, and talked for a few minutes with Jeff, Lucas, Emily and I before going on her way.

It wasn’t all treats and pleasant chats for us however, there was still a lot of work to be done between customers. Since the poinsettia crop has finished colouring up, they no longer require a full blackout period. We were tasked with taking down the remaining blackout curtains. Before we could do anything though, we had to retrieve the ladder from a storage room on the opposite side of campus, after circle checking the RTV we retrieved the trailer and grabbed an extending ladder. Delicately, as not to bump the glass or any overhead implements in the greenhouse, we put the ladder in place and carefully took down the curtains.

In addition to a number of small tasks in between jobs and customers, Friday ended up being very productive!

Saturday December 5^th

Getting in the festive spirit

We began Saturday again by walking the crop where we determined that the Poinsettia crop was due for a watering. It is very important to let poinsettias dry out almost completely before watering because poinsettias are particularly vulnerable to root rot, brought on or made worse by wet soil. Once watering was completed, Emily began organizing hanging baskets and sorting them based on watering needs. At this point I continued sorting pots and removing damaged labels in the garage area.

               

One major duty for Saturday was to prepare for a workshop this coming Wednesday. At this workshop visitors will use a poinsettia transplanted into a larger pot, then decorate the space around the plant with greenery and evergreen cones. Emily and I were responsible for gathering a significant amount of greenery from around campus and painting a few pine and spruce cones.

            

We were also asked to paint wisteria pods but we made an interesting observation while trying. After painting the first pod and beginning work on the second a loud bang resounded across the parking lot. Emily accused me of throwing something; I denied it just before another loud crack was heard. This time we both saw that the wisteria pod she had been painting exploded! We discovered that it takes very little to make a wisteria pod to burst, and that the paint must have been enough to trigger this.

 
          

Sunday December 6^th

Cleaning!

Sunday, we began again by walking the crop and noting temperatures and humidity in the greenhouse. Our biggest job for Sunday was to make sure the greenhouse was as clean as we could possibly make it, so once we finished our opening ritual, we began planning where, what and how we were going to clean. However, before we could begin, we decided to finish up the few odd jobs we had left.  In preparation for the Wednesday workshop we put together a pair of examples using different materials and techniques to hopefully inspire patrons in their own creations.

                

              

The rest of the day was occupied with doing the best job of cleaning possible and eventually taking the compost out. Unfortunately we did not have any customers Sunday, but this allowed us to get quite a lot of work done!

It has been a delight taking care of the greenhouse, and look forward to future opportunities!