The greenhouse of Fanshawe College

Vida and Mike

October 3-5, 2014

 

So this is the blog of two second year Hort Tech students that go by the names Vida and Mike. Our weekend practical at the school greenhouse consisted of many pleasant tasks that we managed to finish with a smile on our face. We also had the pleasure of having our weekend practical's on the same day as the much anticipated (and highly recognized) Veterans Memorial tree planting. With all the hard work of tree planting compiled with the many chores that we had to do at the greenhouse, you are probably wondering "but how did they get it all done?!". Team work, that's how!

Our Friday started off easy enough with a run down of the greenhouse operations with a certain Mr. Jeff Rowley. He was kind enough to explain everything from how the watering system worked, the PRIVA system, and of course the all important "safety first" speech that we have heard a million times this year but still never gets old. After the initial welcome speech to the greenhouse, we re-potted a not-so-small Norfolk pine to bring upstairs to the M buildings atrium. It was a grueling task that left poor Mike sweating buckets. But three floors later we got it to the atrium for the whole student and staff body to proudly look upon (seriously, that tree is beautiful, you should go take a look at it). After the trek up the stairs with the pine we decided to do an easier task that didn't consist of so much sweat and heavy lifting. So what did we do you ask? We washed pots, that's right, lots and lots of clay and plastic pots. But alas, that is also something that you can only do for a short period of time before you want to cry from the boredom, so we decided to cross another task off our list by re-potting and watering some of the beautiful tropical plants in the staff lunch room. Other tasks for the rest of the days included testing the pH for all the different cultivars of poinsettias. We had some solid numbers that prove that fertilization is being done properly and not too much. Speaking of fertilizer, Mike had the genius question for Jeff "what if we run out of poinsettia fertilizer? How do you make more?". So Jeff calmly and graciously showed us how to mix more of the 20/20/20 fertilizer that helps keep those poinsettias beautiful and healthy.

Day two was a hectic day, the Veterans tree planting took almost all we had energy wise and the thought of having to go back to the greenhouse was a daunting thought. But we ate our fill of delicious free food and were on our way. We decided to get one of our bigger chores off the list (I love crossing things off lists, don't you?) which was clean up some Cannas and Colocasia in the outside fenced in garden bed. That task didn't take us as long as expected but we had to take a few breaks due to weather not co-operating. While we were inside waiting for the weather to break, we put together 30 white hanging baskets and filled them with HP soil to prep them for some upcoming transplanting.

 

 

 

When the cleaning up of the Cannas was finished there were more pots to clean, sanitize, and bring back into the greenhouse or away for storage and places to sweep. We were never idle the entire weekend as there is always something to do.

This brings us to the Sunday which was probably our busiest day so far. We decided first thing in the morning to take the Gator out for a rip to collect the multiple bunches of pennisetum grasses surrounding parts of the campus. It was a brisk morning where we could see our breath but that had little effect on us. We cut down and dug up those pennisetums like no ones business. We were an efficient, grass digging, soil sweeping, Gator driving team and nothing could stop us... except a bathroom break. We were all but tuckered out when we arrived back at the greenhouse only to have to put all those pennisetums in bulb crates out back with the Cannas.

 

 

 

While Mike cleaned up the Gator and tools, I ripped out some ratty looking petunias from the from garden bed which makes it look much nicer now. Our final task of the weekend before we started the deep clean of the greenhouse was the organization of the cacti and succulents on the side bench. After staring blankly at the bench for a few minutes trying to decide how best to attack this task, we got into a rhythm and it worked out in our favour. That bench is now organized by type instead of genus, and all the plants are with their corresponding buddies.

 

 

 

 

Our weekend was productive as well as educational and fun. We laughed and make the best of everything we did. Those poinsettias are looking beautiful and as long as we all do our part, they will continue to look great for our upcoming sale. Cheers!