BLOG Doug and Adam

 

Friday April 11

After we received our instructions for the weekend Adam began sowing the vegetable seeds into 288 trays and Doug Transplanted the cuttings that were on the cart into 4” round pots. We also both regularly checked the greenhouse crop for plants that were drying out in the 288 trays. Doug started preparing the 110 cell packs needed for Wednesdays class.

 

Saturday April 12

Today we both began transplanting the Gazania’s and two grasses that were in the 188 trays into cell packs. Then we both finished preparing the 110 cell packs for Wednesday’s greenhouse class. Adam then sowed the Salvia, Nemesia and Marigolds into cell packs. Doug started preparing the 1700 4” round pots for Wednesdays class. Again we both made rounds checking on the crop roughly every 2 hours as instructed by Jeff.

 

Sunday April 13

Doug started the day by checking the crop and then finished preparing the 4” round pots for Wednesday. When Adam showed up he worked on interiorscape and planted the plants that were to be planted into the sides of the baskets on bench number two. Doug then began cleanup after the afternoon break while Adam was finishing up interiorscape in the school.  

 

Weekend blog - Mark and Ben

Friday April 11^th there were lots of elbows and knees out as it was one of the first real nice days of spring. We started by trimming the perennial grasses back in to nice little balls. We also cleaned and the leaves out the beds, focusing on where the snow had been piled. We also trimmed the Seven Son tree, Spiraea nipponica, and the Arundo donax. There were some annuals left in the bed from last year, we took them out too.

 

Saturday April 12^th we continued to clean out the woodland garden. Getting right in there with the backpack blower for the final finish. We also attached the Echo Pro-Paddle and cleaned the section of grass assigned to us. Next we gathered up the ladders and climbed on to the Wisteria. While up above the ground we trimmed the Wisteria 4-6 buds from the nearest branch. For the branches were flexible, we trained them back down through the pergola so the flower hangs downwards for the perfect sight. Next we went over Cornus Sericea and trimmed back all the old growth, leaving us with 4-6 fresh young vigorous branches. We cleaned up the brush and took it to the compost pile.

Sunday April 13^th we started the day off by taking down the snow fence in the conifer garden. This involved taking all the twist ties off then rolling up the orange fence then pulling the stakes out. We also unwrapped the Franklinia in the Weekes Garden from what seemed like never ending amount of burlap. We loaded them up in the RTV then put them into the outdoor storage room. We then proceeded to clean the mass amounts of brush from the trees that were cut down and the dogwoods that were cut back, in which required many trips to the compound to dump. Then it was time to fuel up and clean the machines that we used.

DMC and JRow’s Landscape Weekend Blog

Friday April 11, 2014

The first day of our weekend landscape practical, we all dragged ourselves into the greenhouse where our wise leader (Jeff) gave us our weekend tasks. The first task JRow and DMC were rewarded with was dividing, spacing and evening out the grasses in front of the President offices. This job started out a little rough but once DMC and JRow got into the swing of things they just rolled on through the task. Once they left the grasses in the dust they moved onto the front of F-2 stairwell where they remove spent Bergenia leaves, cut back sedum, and cut back grasses to about 8 inches high.  By the time they finished with the F-2 stairwell it was time to call it a day. Overall, Friday turned out to be a great day.

 

Saturday April 12, 2014

 On Saturday, DMC and JRow decided to tackle the garden bed with the lady statue in front of the H-F-M bus loop. Some of the tasks were tying up the tall grasses behind the lady and cutting them with power shear to 8 inches then came the fun part of remove any spent foliage and racking debris out of the garden beds. With all the debris gathered from the beds it came to one full trailer full plus a trip with the RTV back to the compound.  It was a lot of hard work but DMC and JRow together can accomplish anything!

 

 

Sunday April 13, 2014

Sunday morning began by cleaning up the rest of our debris   from the H-F-M loop. Once finished that we moved to the twin garden beds in front of the office of the registrar. We cut back some Golden Japanese Forest Grass, Deutzia, and Aster. Once cut back the garden bed needed a thorough raking, at which point we removed all debris. Our final task was to use the backpack blower to clear all the walkways of gravel and sand. To finish off the day we pruned approximately 20 Dogwoods beside the walkway heading to K building.

 

Weekend Duty - Emily and Dylan H.

 

This weekend was a beauty!  The weekend started off with a chilly bite but warmed up to be our first true spring day. Eight whole degrees! Our weekend consisted of pruning, pruning and more pruning. The ground was still very frozen, so it eliminated many possible jobs. On Friday and Saturday, we pruned a mass of burning bush behind R2 residence.  Ninebarks have square stems! There were over 30! What a workout. Many of them were well developed and rather large. A little extra elbow grease was needed to lop off some the stems and branches.

 

The latter half Saturday and Sunday morning consisted of cleaning up two hydrangea beds, attempting to edge the frozen ground, cleaning up after litterbugs, and sweeping up much of the sand and salt left from winter walkway maintenance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday afternoon, we repaired two tools each in the wood shop. It proved to be more of a learning experience than what we originally assumed it would be. Needless to say, Emily will not be a tool repair women when she is done school.  We finished off Sunday afternoon with a takedown of the Arundo donax in the woodland garden and a good power washing of the tractor and trailer. The tractor was very muddy as the warmer temperatures made the drive back to the compound mushy causing Dylan to get the tractor stuck.  It’s now sparkling clean and resting easy in C building!

 

 

 

April 4-6, 2014 Jaimi and John

Congratulations Fanshawe Horticulture students for completing the first CLT testing ever to be incorporated into a college curriculum!

 Friday as a nerve wracking day as one by one, each student stepped in front of a judge to be tested on their chainsaw, backpack blower and pruning skills, in hopes to become a Certified Landscape Technician.  With the class being split into two groups for the CLT testing, morning and afternoon, my practical partner, John, spent the morning at A.M. Cuddy Gardens for testing while I (Jaimi) spent the morning at Fanshawe College preparing for the weekend and anxiously awaiting for the arrival of the afternoon and my turn to be tested.  With a quick briefing of weekend duties from Jeff, and a few piles of leaves raked, the morning went fast and it was time to head to Strathroy. Even with the nerves and rain, the CLT testing was a great success for both the students and Fanshawe College.  

 

 

The freezing temperatures of Saturday morning brought a slow start to the garden maintenance.  With the leaves still frozen in place, John and I sheered the grasses in front of the president’s office and gave the sun some time to warm the earth.  A few hours in, we were able to pick up the pace; raking out leaves, sand, salt, and garbage that had accumulated in the gardens over the long winter.  By the afternoon the weather was sunny and warm, and our piles of debris were plentiful.  Picking the debris up with the bucket of the John |Deer and dumping it into the Kubota pulled trailer made quick work of the large, heavy piles.  With the sun shining and the piles disappearing, the afternoon flew by and it was time to pack it in before we knew it.    

 

As Jaimi and I (John) arrived at the greenhouse on Sunday, the sun was already begging to come up. Once in the greenhouse we had a quick meeting with the other crew who were also working on the grounds this weekend.  With our plan set, we headed out for the day. After finishing all the circle checks on the equipment that we needed, Jaimi and I got to work. We first started by edging the two garden beds next to building M and H, making sure to leave a nice deep and straight edge. This was the final step to competing this area. Next we moved on to the garden beds that are along the wall of Building H and F. As Jaimi raked out and cut back any dead growth I continued to use the power paddle to remove the large amounts of salt and sand from the turf areas. By this time the sun was high in the sky and shining bright. We both agreed that today was a perfect day to be working outside. After lunch I brought the Kubota tractor and trailer over so that we could remove all of our piles of debris from the area. With everything now cleaned up we head back to the greenhouse to wash all the equipment and tools. Working together with the other crew we put everything away in its proper place. With all tools and equipment put away we headed home after a successful weekend of work on the Fanshawe College grounds.     

 

April 6^th, 2014

Move Over HBO’s Game of Thrones, Because Spring is Coming

By Eric Abram

It’s been a long harsh winter, but temperatures are finally rising, the birds are singing, the rain is falling, and the bulbs are sprouting! Chad and I began our greenhouse duties on an auspicious day: both the hydrangea sale and the CLT finals were on April 4^th. This meant that each of us would only be in the greenhouse half a day; Chad in the morning, me in the afternoon.  Chad took care of opening the greenhouse and carefully checking the crop for any issues or inconsistencies requiring attention, which today included watering and potting up some moss hanging baskets. As soon as the day began, so did the customers! The hydrangea sale started fast and maintained momentum all morning. After finishing my CLT exams, I made my way back to campus as Chad drove out to Strathroy to join the afternoon group. The sale continued unabated the rest of the day, with only five remaining by closing time!

 

I finished the remaining hanging baskets and gave the Alocasia a soap treatment to control aphids. Chad graciously returned after finishing his CLT exams and immediately got to work processing stick labels until finally some equipment returned from the Cuddy Gardens and we were able to lock up for the night.

 

Winter wasn’t quite finished with us it seemed because we awoke to a chilly Saturday morning with flurries predicted. After a walk of the crop, Chad worked on transplanting Antirrhinum (snapdragons) while I fretted over the label machine, both of us happy to be working in the warm greenhouse as our fellow students on maintenance bundled up and dealt with snow. After working out the label situation I started seeding veggies and annuals while Chad continued the painstaking work of processing stick labels, which carried us through lunch. In the afternoon the sun finally came out and things finally started warming up.

 

 

 

 

 

I set the Morning Glory seeds to soak for the next 24 hours for the seeds to soften and allow them to germinate. Giving the crop a second look, we discovered that some of the stock hanging baskets drip onto the seed trays, a problem that could cause damping off or washing away of seedlings and media, so we did some rearranging. It always pays to keep checking! I moved on to painting the metal signs while Chad pulled more hanging baskets out of storage and filled them with media for eventual planting and sale, as well as cleaning the greenhouse and processing even more pots. Ending the day, my hands were tacky with paint but gripping a lovely hydrangea to take home.

 

My final day of greenhouse practical was consumed with finishing the jobs I’d started the day prior; more seeding and more painting. Chad struck out on an odyssey to track down all the new plantings, of which we had an exhaustive and extensive list. With only the small aquamate in action he was running back and forth to the greenhouse to refill it and making roundabout trips searching for unlocked doors. Only three hydrangeas remained, but stubbornly refused to sell. Maybe I need to work on my marketing technique…

 

 

 

Before the day was finished we had just enough time to pull some racks out of storage and assemble them in preparation for the cuttings arriving next week. Only two weeks left in class! The greenhouse is getting ever more full by the day, and it’ll be nice to see it full again after the last nine months.

 

That’s all from Chad and I this week. See you at Cuddy Gardens next Friday!

This past weekend was an awesome opportunity to work with my fellow classmates and weekend practical crew; I had Darcy and Emily working together on their maintenance practical and Zach with Kyle F. on their weekend practical on a different part of the campus. I was working with Jessica G. for my greenhouse practical. Our list was as follows: transplant Viola x wittrockiana into cell packs and place on transplant bench: remove excess soil from the greenhouse garden beds and rake smooth: interiorscape: pot washing: I forget what else was on his list.

Jessica and I started with the transplanting of the violas, we gave the seed popper a try but it just wasn’t consistent enough, I made the executive decision to do it the good ‘ole fashion way, use the blunt end of a pencil through the bottom of the plug, perfect fit.

 

 

I was sure to set time aside while walking the crop to gather up dead, dying, decomposing leaves from the plants in the greenhouse. I also removed dead, dying, decomposing cuttings that were still around, I spot watered here and there, as well as pruned off lingering stems, stubs or dying leaves from the stock plant/parents plant/mother plant, call them what you will. I found it easier to check the plants on the upper shelf of the production bench with the step ladder rather than drag the entire tray across the harsh metal and risk damaging the trays.

Saturday afternoon brought along with it Mr. Pascoe with a former graduate of the program who was seeing the greenhouse and the succulent collection for the first time.  With this visit came additional tasks to complete, these included: taking cuttings from the Mandevilla and placing them in the mist chamber on bottom heat: Remove the rooted Coleus cuttings from the mist chamber, pot them up and place them on the production bench with their friends: Transplant Echeveria ‘Topsy Turvy’ as well as another succulent into a larger clay pot and label them accordingly.

Sunday was an absolutely beautiful day and when paired with the greenhouse, it was practically a summer’s day! The hydrangeas are coming along nicely, some of them are obviously further ahead than others but it’s really amazing to see how incredibly vibrant the pink is.

 

Along with the beautiful weather it also meant that all the plants were at risk of drying out a lot quicker than the previous two overcast days. During my morning checklist I watered the seed trays and then covered gently with the frost cloth to protect them from the direct sunlight. Instead of the normal morning, noon and closing ‘bench walks’ I was required to check on the plants for spot watering every 30 to 40 minutes throughout the day. All and all it was an incredibly productive weekend with a great crew to spend my breaks and lunch with. Needless to say working with Darcy, Emily, Kyle and Zach brought on a camaraderie that I look forward to finding this summer with my future co-workers, suffice it to say, I think I’m going to kind of miss this place when I’m gone.