Doug and Mary-Jane’s Blog Entry Greenhouse Weekend Practical Sept 20th, 21st & 22nd 2013

Friday: September 20th The poinsettia crop is coming to the end of its vegetative growth period, so today we spent most of the day putting up the blackout curtains in the greenhouse. We are using the blackout curtains to create a longer dark period for the crop, by changing the photoperiod for a crop like poinsettias it will induce flowering or in this case bracts. In late September the nights start to become longer than days, using the blackout curtains will help make sure that the poinsettia are getting a soil uninterrupted dark period and prevent any light pollution from getting into the greenhouse. We were also given the tedious task of cleaning and sanitizing pots all weekend, although it may be a repetitive task it is one of the most important chores for any greenhouse. By keeping pots, tools and equipment clean and sanitized we are eliminating any potential pests or pathogens from entering the greenhouse. After everything was neat and clean we went into the greenhouse and topped off the pots that were low on soil. We finished off the day by going through the greenhouse closing checklist and locking up the greenhouse.

Saturday: September 21st Today we went through the crop removing any dead or severely damaged leaves from each plant; since these plants are going to be sold we want them looking their best for the winter sale. As we waited for the rain to die down we continued sterilizing pots and cleaning around the greenhouse. Once the rain stopped and the other group finished with the RTV we scouted around campus searching for the rest of the Colocasia (Elephant ears). After scouting out all of the Colocasia we dug them up loaded them into the RTV and brought the plants back to the greenhouse. We lined bulb crates with some old news paper and packed the plants into the baskets with some soil. This is to store the bulbs over winter so that they can be re planted in the spring. After cleaning up the mess we made from packing the Colocasia we went through the greenhouse closing checklist then locked up.

Sunday: September 22nd We started off the day by going through the opening greenhouse checklist like we did every day, then we went straight to cleaning pots. Once the other group was finished with the RTV Doug went out around campus to gather the last of the remaining Colocasia, while Mary-Jane stayed to finish cleaning the pots and pack the last of the Colocasia into bulb crates. We finished the majority of our work before lunch; we spent the rest of the day intensively cleaning the whole greenhouse. We thoroughly swept the entire floor and cleaned tables getting into every corner. We then finished off cleaning the rest of the dirty pots and stacked the clean ones in the garage. After everything was cleaned we hosed down the greenhouse floor, then once again we went through the greenhouse closing check list and locked up after everyone else.

Maintenance Practical, September 20th 2013 Eric Abram Dave Comfort Friday September 20th It would seem the weather is helping us with our weekend practical, as once again this weekend we had the pleasure of working around the weather. This began with replanting a sizable lilac tree that had been dug up earlier in the summer and had a “small root ball”, according to Jeff. This meant using the John Deere tractor to lift the pot into the trailer and bring it over to its new home behind R2. Once we choose a new home for the tree (our first choice being incorrect due to fresh grass seed) we got to work preparing a hole.

Then came removing the tree from the pot, as it turns out the roots took up almost the entire pot and it came to us wrestling the tree out of the pot and artfully spinning it to the new hole. Once we finished we amounted to a surprisingly difficult task we had to apply ferrous sulphate to some sad Pin Oaks in D Courtyard. This meant going on a bit of a hunt to first find it though and we eventually found it and applied it. Friday night we had quite the downpour, luckily we set out a plan for our tasks this weekend that meant that our work in the Conifer Garden would not have been for naught. We set to cleaning the walkways and edging along the walkways to reduce all the soil and debris from collecting and making it hazardous for anyone walking through. With good timing as I went sliding through a spot of mud just as w started. As we added more and more muck to the back of the RTV we realized just how much stuff had been collecting around the drain and fountain. 

Once we had finished with the Conifer Garden we moved into the Woodland Garden to address what we could. I began cleaning the daylilies and Eric went after the bindweed and thistles. Our lilac tree had settled nicely since being planted so we cleaned up the edge around it and gave it some mulch to keep the soil from washing away. (Insert Image 3) Ornamental grasses are fantastic in the landscape but do pose a problem when too close to a walkway, especially when they hang out and try to get friendly with everyone walking by. This was the case in the Woodland Garden with one such grass that we had to cut back, divide and replant further away from the walkway.

Eric Stacey and Jessica Shields weekend practical for September 13-15. We were given the area of the R2 residence to do some basic maintenance of the surrounding beds. We started off on Friday by gathering all the needed tools for the weekend. It was cold and very windy, much like the days to come. After completing the circle checks on both the Kubota and the John Deere we set off to complete our tasks. Jessica started the day by watering all the planters with our coveted mums that Dave and Eric A. had planted, while Eric got started on weeding, removing all the dead bindweed which was quite an eyesore. By lunch we were on a roll covering tree collars and deadheading Hostas. 

Saturday morning started off cool and in fact there was frost on the windshield before leaving the house in the morning. As Saturday rolled on Eric was sent out on the John Deere to fill gator bags for some thirsty trees while Jessica tackled weeding behind R2. Saturday afternoon we brought the rototiller out to once again shred up weeds surrounding the Yews (Taxus) behind the residence, however, this time we followed up with grass seed which Eric then watered in.

 Sunday was cool with little to no wind, forecasted was some rain but we were lucky to not get any until the work was completed. Upon arriving we discovered a little friend, possibly feasting on the fresh grass seed. 

All of the Ginkgo’s were given fresh new tree collars and we put a beautiful edge surrounding the Picea pungens garden bed. Next we buried some landscape fabric under the Yews (Taxus) while cleaning up the edges, followed up by more garbage pick-up and sucker removal from the base of the trees surrounding R2. It’s been a great weekend of work with much more to do! It’s a good thing us ambitious gardeners are on the case!

Greenhouse Practical, September 13th 2013 Eric Abram Dave Comfort

We roused ourselves from sleep and made our way to the greenhouse on a chilly windy day, initially a welcome break from the incredible heat wave earlier in the week. However, the first job of the weekend was to pull up the chrysanthemums in order to plant them in a few strategically located planters on campus. This meant we would be working outside for the lion’s share of the day. I watered the mums in preparation for planting before packing the back of the RTV with all the tools we would need, as Dave walked the campus and marked the planters we would be using so our comrade Jessica Shields working her maintenance practical wouldn’t water them before we planted.

Driving around in the open RTV proved quite uncomfortable in the wind, especially for poor Dave who started suffering allergies on top of a nasty cold, but he was a trooper and we were able to complete 13 planters each with three 3-gallon pots. We raised Jess on the radio to let her know she could finish her watering and drove back to the greenhouse to tackle our next task: crating the Cannas and Pennisetum that we had obtained from Clintar. To store the rhizomes we needed to line some bulb crates with newspaper, so I picked up a stack of the Interrobang, not realizing the issue featured an interview with yours truly! 

Taking pictures of the leaves before trimming and carefully labelling the crates with image file numbers so they could be properly identified later, we dragged all the crates into the tractor bay as the weather forecast predicted a chance of frost before closing up the greenhouse for the day. The next morning we made an unhappy discovery upon reaching the greenhouse: one of the 1-gallon mum pots had been stolen in the night! Not the best start to our day. After completing the opening checklist we moved on to the ferns, also courtesy of Clintar. The ferns were to be divided into quarters and potted up in 6” rounds to grow in the greenhouse, and the overgrown ferns had incredibly tough root balls taking up the pots completely. Luckily, earlier just this week Dave and myself had purchased Hori-Hori knives, essential tools for any perennial gardener. We were able to make short work of the ferns, sawing through and cutting them down to size with ease before potting them up.

We started printing up tags for the annual hanging basket collected at Cuddy’s before realizing there were quite a few misplaced or inaccurate tags. Dave started the painstaking task of matching everything up and checking the spreadsheet to ensure every plant was correctly identified and tagged while I set sprinklers running in the Conifer Garden and pulled the crates out of the tractor bay back outside and watered them down for them to begin drying. Coming back inside I helped Dave as we retagged the annual hanging baskets, a job that was very necessary but quite a headache and took him most of the day to complete. 

The poinsettias were fertilized and watered and the irrigation through the entire crop was carefully inspected for leads hanging out of baskets, spaghetti strands pulled loose by the rolling benches, and water running off leaves instead of into pots. After a thorough watering the irrigation was turned off and the greenhouse lines were purged of fertilizer. I started installing hardware in order to hang the greenhouse wands and brooms off the floor before we closed up shop for the day.

We opened up our final day with Dave cleaning out and sterilizing the misting chamber while I completed installing the hooks to hang the brooms and squeegees on. Afterwards we began our largest job of the weekend: cleaning the greenhouse, top to bottom. As I swept and cleaned outdoor storage and the tractor bay, Dave began the unenviable task of cleaning the ceiling of the greenhouse. To accomplish this he had brought an extendable handle from home to which he tied a wet rag. Necessity as they say is the mother of invention:

Once this was done, we set about our final run-through of the greenhouse, cleaning the floors and emptying the drain grates, wiping off benches and tables, vacuuming everywhere, cleaning down the RTV, and making sure everything was in tip-top shape. Time to get ready for our maintenance practical next weekend! Eric

Kyle Haskett/Felton Greenhouse Practical September 6th- 8th Friday: Today we promptly showed up to the greenhouse at a staggering 7:40 am. We rushed over to the security office to sign out the greenhouse key only to discover this task required very little effort. Triumphant and on schedule we headed to the greenhouse with spirit and vigour in our hearts, we would feed the crop of poinsettias even if it meant being late for the Hortfest bus! (However let’s face it Kyle and I know what we’re doing). We unlocked the greenhouse and analyzed the poinsettia crop. Desperatly needing a good drink, Kyle and I turned on the dosetron to feed them their much needed minerals. While tending to our crop we re-organized the plant benches and tried to create order from chaos. After the crop was successfully watered and our quest for today was completed we promptly locked up and headed for the bus and off to Hortfest! (GO ULMUS) After a successful day at Hortfest with the First years we returned back to our much needed positions to water the dwindling chrysanthemums. After helping Jeff carry in some new recruits from cuddies into quarantine pending sterilization we set out to water. With the brilliant advice of Jeff Rowley and Kyle using the only available watering hose, I was left with the dreadful task of “hand watering!” We left the greenhouse at 6 P.M. for some much needed sleep.

Saturday: It was day two of our weekend practical and we had high expectations for what we needed to accomplish today. We planned to deal with “Pot Mountain” and perform the 2nd pinch on the “Valentine” poinsettias. Just as we were about to embark on our noble journey we encountered a friendly face! It was J RO! Here to do her Interiorscape duties, “have fun watering” we jested as we began our day. Kyle and I started to wash each pot carefully disinfecting and eliminating all bacteria and pathogens. Kyle and I did not rest until every pathogen was destroyed mercilessly! We then moved the quarantined material to their new home on the silver shelf. Feeling quite successful with our work we sat down for a pleasant 5 minute break. The shear act of sitting was a much needed wakeup call for the weary Kyle. Our next mission had begun, pinching the “Valentine” poinsettias to ensure Pascoe’s desired height and vigour. Moving slower than a snail we carefully double checked our efforts to ensure they were up to Pascoe’s professional expectations. (A standard we all agree should be upheld) Queue lunch time, we set off to Ginos pizza with J RO after barricading the greenhouse from intruders. With pizza in our bellys and a mountain of plants on our mind we began to condense the massive amounts of plant material sitting on our class bench. Collecting and organizing the plants by genus, we commenced our upgrading. Removing the infernal 3 inch nursery pots we combined the plants into stunning 6 inch specimens. With non-stop pot washing and organizing to do! We began to clean up. Meticulously washing and sanitizing the floors to again be-rid the pathogen menace, we obtained a Mr.Clean shine. Finally locking up the greenhouse for the night we embarked on our own journeys home.

Sunday: With our final day upon us we arrived at the security office to reclaim the greenhouse key from the “KEY WARDEN” we set forth to the greenhouse for some epic re-potting operations. With techno rushing through the air (at a reasonable volume) we embarked on complete and total greenhouse order. Organizing the plants into proper pots, and trays we condensed the behemoth into a manageable monster. Clearing off our class bench would allow us to bring in our own experiments (after proper disinfecting) and have a space of our own. By maximizing our plants/sq. Ft we can in turn bring more money into the greenhouse, this will very much appease the great Pascoe. I for one am in favour of keeping the money we make within the program. With lunchtime upon us we set off to (you guessed it) Ginos pizza for another of their deliciously priced pizzas. After our feast of pizza and water, we headed back into the jungle to organize the fields of pothos! Lastly we were left with one more good sanitizing to do. The battle against pathogens was again successful; however, the war has just begun. We set off to face the “KEY WARDEN” one last time and conclude our epic quest into the jungles of the greenhouse.

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