Aaron Shubrook and Josh Tiessen

            Professor Mike Pascoe

                       

            MTNC-1017

            September 15^th, 2012

Weekend Duties

                        To the untrained eye the garden beds at the front of T building at the Fanshawe campus, may not have needed to be maintained over this weekend. However that is an understatement to say the least! Due to the location of these garden beds it was crucial that they look their best. A large volume of outgoing and more importantly, incoming traffic would see these gardens as they commuted to and from Fanshawe. The gardens along the front of the college could be among the first thing that influences people’s thoughts on the reputation of this college. At the beginning of the weekend, duties were assigned to the group and a plan on what the most efficient way to go about completing the work was put forth. Before starting to work, all garden beds were examined carefully for overgrowth, weeds and debris/garbage. It was most logical to start from the west end and work down to the end of B building. The first task was to weed the large bed in front of the bus entrance due to the invasion of bindweed. Bindweed spreads through the use of underground roots or tubers (rhizomes) that are able to differentiate into above ground weeds if more photosynthate is desirable to the plant. This bed was riddled with the bind weed and it was recommended that as much of the roots as possible were to be removed due to the likelihood of the invasion reoccurring.

            Once all the weeds were removed from the bed they were taken away to the dumping area and disposed of. Also the mulch in the areas that were disturbed in the removal process was smoothed out to give the appearance as if no one had ever been there. Next the crew proceeded along the building to the perennials, most of which had bloomed already and required the spent blooms to be removed from

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the plants in the most appropriate way. The method for removing most of the blooms was through the use of the gas shears. Once all of the perennials were sheared, some were pruned via secateurs (Peonies) to the first true tree leaf. After all the debris was cleaned from shearing it was then time to move in and cut down the flower stalks in perennials such as Coral Bells so they were not visible. Some dead growth was removed from plants such as Epimedium, etc. Some overgrowth onto the hard surfaces was left to create a softened transition from bed to walkway. Once the perennials were completed the team proceeded to remove spent blooms in the planters in front of the main entrance. The area was then checked over and a quick mulch smoothening was done as well as cleaning off the walkway. It was then time to move on to the overgrown Sumac and Barberry. First was the Barberry, these bushes were time consuming to prune due to the large thorns that grow on this shrub. These shrubs were thinned out and the height was reduced.

            Care was taken to ensure the shrubs did not look “hacked back” by the use of a shearing machine. Each branch was individually pruned back, while taking time to stand back and make sure the shrubs still looked informal. Next was to remove the Sumac that was growing in undesired locations spreading by rhizomes. Some of these were able to be taken out by hand but most required the use of a hand saw. Most horizontally growing branches were removed to keep the look of the sumacs growing upright. Once all pruning was completed and debris was collected and disposed of, all Hemerocallis were deadheaded in required areas, as well as weeding in the all areas in front of T building. Once this was all done the last things to do were to remove two dead Nyssas and plant and Liquidambar in place of these two while using all proper tree planting and staking techniques. A water bag, tree guard and wrap were all included. Finally a quick sweep of the control area was performed. After all garbage and debris was removed from the adjacent areas, including the curb lines it was then time to mulch from the daylily beds to the front entrance. Approximately 8-9 yards of mulch was

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loaded into the dump trailer over the weekend and almost all of it was used to cover bare spots in this area. Most of the bed from B building to T had an entire layer of mulch spread carefully under all plants. The crew then cleaned the hand tools that were no longer required and put them back in storage. The last task was weeding some problematic areas in D courtyard. Then the RTV and tractor was pressure washed thoroughly and stored for the weekend.

            Research Question: We are only able to grow certain species and cultivars of barberry in Canada, because some species and/or cultivars may act as alternate hosts of black stem rust disease.

Pic1: This was is a picture of the garden bed on the West side over the college invaded by bind weed, which was weeded by the crew.

Pic2:  These planters were riddled with mostly dead annual plantings which were removed. The spent blooms were also removed from the geraniums.

Pic3: This is a picture of a plant tag which was almost covered by the perennial planting, which was later pruned back to give the reader a chance to spot the label.

Pic4: This picture illustrates the cobble stone that is used to drain the water from the above overhang and how it was re-organized to provide a crisp edge and curb appeal.

Pic5: This picture illustrates the proper techniques when digging a hole for a tree planting.

Pic6.: A fresh layer of mulch in the Hemerocallis and Calamagrostis beds along the East side of B building.

Pic7: A picture of fresh mulch spread to the correct depth and spread carefully around each individual plant. Also a final picture of the Liquidambar that was planted as per the tree planting demonstration by Mike and Jeff.