Last Man Standing

Weekend of September 28^th , 29^th and 30^th

Kyle Mifsud

This weekend I received a multitude of tasks to be completed between my partner and myself, which included mulching, shearing, planting and plant removal. My partner and I knew that we had our hands full for the weekend to come, but then when a certain turn of events occurred as my partner suffered an injury I found myself as the last man standing. My main focus for the weekend was to maintain the Conifer Garden and prepare it or the upcoming winter season.  I had my work cut out for myself and unfortunately due to the fact that I was working solo I was unable to complete the removal of the two Malus Trees, the planning for the Piceaaibes ‘Slim Jim’ as well as a portion of the muching. Fortunately due to my working history and experience I was able to polish of the remainder of the list by myself with few to little obstacles to get in the way.

Friday was the beginning of my challenge. I decided to get the major tasks completed this day in order of my personal opinion of importance, which included the planting of the Aibeskoreana  ‘Aurea’ (refer to Picture 3- Aibeskoreana), the Pinusparviflora ‘GyokoShohime’ (refer to Picture 1 – Pinusparviflora), and the TaxusbaccataFastigiata. The planting of these three on the first day of the weekend enabled me to weed, edge and mulch the bed the following days without any hassle. After the planting of the two trees (Aibeskoraena and the Taxusbaccata), I installed the T-Bar to insure the stability and upright growth of the tree. I made sure to install the T-Bar pointing in the northwestern direction in order to suppress the effects of northwestwind burn. Other materials that aided me in the completion of the planting included a round mouth shovel, a hard rake and a post pounder. I then removed the specified T-Bars disposing of the wire. T-Bars were left on three conifers due to the instability of the plants. I also removed an unidentified Aibes and sheared back the Lavender Shurbs in the raised bed. The Lavender was sheared back to the foliage to prepare for the winter weather (refer to Picture 2-Sheared Lavemder). I completed the day by mulching a berm around the base of the trees and the shrub in which I previouslyplanted.

Picture 1 – Planted Pinus parviflora ‘GyokoShohime’

Picture 2 – Sheared Lavender

Picture 3 – Planted Aibes koreana  ‘Aurea’

Saturday morning consisted of our class traveling and participating in the Veterans Memorial Parkway Tree Planting. We spent 4 hours on site which only allowed me about 4 hours to compete more work on the Conifer Garden. I started my day by removing the two Euonymus alatus‘Compactus’ including the rootball of the shrub (refer to Picture 4 for removal). To remove the two shrubs I first sheared off the top to give me access to the rootball, which I then removed. My next job for the day consisted of the time consisting and grueling task of weeding and mulching as many gardens as possible leading me into the end of day two.

Picture 4– Removed Euonymus alatus  ‘Compactus’       

Sunday brought me to the end of my weekend, which meant that I needed to polish off the remainder of my tasks. To begin the day I used the Kubota tractor and trailer to get the pine mulch from the compound and continued on with the tedious task of weeding and mulching. I used a wheel barrel to transfer the mulch to the multiple beads of the garden and used a hard rake to even out the piles (Refer to Picture 5 of weeded and Mulched Gardens). Pine mulch helps to give nutrients to the plants, retain water, stop weeds from growing, as well as provide an appealing look to the garden. After completing all of the final tasks to the best of my ability I finished the weekend off by power washing all of the used equipment including the Kubota, trailer and the RTV, and returning all of the other equipment to the tool rooms in the same manner I initially found them.

Picture 5 – Weeded and Mulched Gardens

In completion I was very pleased with the work I was able to complete in the Conifer Garden, while working on my own. It was a challenge in which I was willing to take on, and through having to make and face decisions on my own I feel that this weekend has left me with a practical work experience in which I will now have the knowledge to overcome in the future.