Monday December 7^th, 2015

Weekend Greenhouse Duty Blog

Emily W. and James D.

December 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th

Friday December 4^th

Sales and Pleasant Visits

                Our Friday morning began as a meeting with Jeff Rowley where we were shown the details of the opening procedure. As part of this opening ritual we walked the crop, inspecting each plant in the greenhouse for consistent watering, and removing or setting aside any plant that needs special attention. Another part of walking the crop is to consolidate the poinsettia crop to look full and more appealing to potential customers.

                                             Friday seemed to have a focus on sales, we had many customers walk in and a large order pick-up we needed to prepare for in the afternoon. All of our customers were excited to see the selection and quality of our crop, being able to support the horticulture program was a definite bonus for many visitors.

Emily and I were lucky enough to see a couple familiar faces, the always cheerful and upbeat Mr. Duesbury came to support the program and purchase one of our poinsettias. Perhaps better known as Mr. D. he teaches the first year small engine maintenance and repair class with professionalism and positivity. Despite a spectrum of ability levels in the group, Mr. D. makes the class accessible to everyone while still making it challenging for more experienced students. Second, the dean of the faculty of arts, media, and design, Dr. Helen Pearce stopped in to pick up a poinsettia of her own. Dr. Pearce has had a particular impact on my group in the horticulture program. In first year, she was kind enough to volunteer her own house to be used by our class in our landscape design course. Finally, a former student of the Horticulture program stopped by with a beautiful box of chocolates to share. She has been working in the field for a number of years, and talked for a few minutes with Jeff, Lucas, Emily and I before going on her way.

It wasn’t all treats and pleasant chats for us however, there was still a lot of work to be done between customers. Since the poinsettia crop has finished colouring up, they no longer require a full blackout period. We were tasked with taking down the remaining blackout curtains. Before we could do anything though, we had to retrieve the ladder from a storage room on the opposite side of campus, after circle checking the RTV we retrieved the trailer and grabbed an extending ladder. Delicately, as not to bump the glass or any overhead implements in the greenhouse, we put the ladder in place and carefully took down the curtains.

In addition to a number of small tasks in between jobs and customers, Friday ended up being very productive!

Saturday December 5^th

Getting in the festive spirit

We began Saturday again by walking the crop where we determined that the Poinsettia crop was due for a watering. It is very important to let poinsettias dry out almost completely before watering because poinsettias are particularly vulnerable to root rot, brought on or made worse by wet soil. Once watering was completed, Emily began organizing hanging baskets and sorting them based on watering needs. At this point I continued sorting pots and removing damaged labels in the garage area.

               

One major duty for Saturday was to prepare for a workshop this coming Wednesday. At this workshop visitors will use a poinsettia transplanted into a larger pot, then decorate the space around the plant with greenery and evergreen cones. Emily and I were responsible for gathering a significant amount of greenery from around campus and painting a few pine and spruce cones.

            

We were also asked to paint wisteria pods but we made an interesting observation while trying. After painting the first pod and beginning work on the second a loud bang resounded across the parking lot. Emily accused me of throwing something; I denied it just before another loud crack was heard. This time we both saw that the wisteria pod she had been painting exploded! We discovered that it takes very little to make a wisteria pod to burst, and that the paint must have been enough to trigger this.

 
          

Sunday December 6^th

Cleaning!

Sunday, we began again by walking the crop and noting temperatures and humidity in the greenhouse. Our biggest job for Sunday was to make sure the greenhouse was as clean as we could possibly make it, so once we finished our opening ritual, we began planning where, what and how we were going to clean. However, before we could begin, we decided to finish up the few odd jobs we had left.  In preparation for the Wednesday workshop we put together a pair of examples using different materials and techniques to hopefully inspire patrons in their own creations.

                

              

The rest of the day was occupied with doing the best job of cleaning possible and eventually taking the compost out. Unfortunately we did not have any customers Sunday, but this allowed us to get quite a lot of work done!

It has been a delight taking care of the greenhouse, and look forward to future opportunities!

Greenhouse weekend blog - Raeshawn and Josh

November 27-29, 2015

On the morn of Friday, November 27, 2015, inside a building engineered to encompass a suitable, adapting environment for optimum plant growth, Jeff anticipated the arrival of the next pair of students to work it. Raeshawn and Eros (Josh) turned up promptly at eight a.m. and received guidelines and instructions. The longtime friends and symbiotic partners commenced with regular procedures including checking humidity, temperatures and walking about the poinsettia crop to check for abnormalities.

The two of them set aside different large orders of poinsettias. The grasses were wetted. They made certain that each poinsettia had a drip line, this lead to the conclusion that they needed to be watered and long enough so that water would moisten the whole root ball. Meanwhile and after sufficient watering, poinsettias were moved from the back to front to make the stock look more full and lively, and moved to new tables to have better organization and to clear a table entirely. Half way through the day the pair of them headed to a Royal Botanical Gardens presentation for over an hour of learning possibilities for their future. Throughout the day, a handful of customers happily came to buy our poinsettias as well as deliveries that took Rae and Eros to unknown parts of the college. As a result of these sales more poinsettias needed to be moved forward.

Before the end of the day the duo brought down the curtains, folding and putting them away. In reverse of the morning, they went through the checklist assuring everything was in order. The cash register was added up and profits were set aside. With the greenhouse locked, they both went home together keeping the main keys.

On the morrow, Raeshawn and Eros in unison entered the House of Green to learn that they were to relinquish the keys with every evening to security. They went to deal with their folly and set things right. Right after they watered the ficuses and poinsettias in front of the bookstore. Their shift started with displaying the plant sale signs, preparing the cash register and completing the checklist.

The quirky twosome worked more separately on this day. Eros began attaching hanger hooks to baskets whilst Rae checked and condensed poinsettias. Part way through the baskets Eros discovered an ivy with an astounishing and revolting amount of aphids coating its stems. Soon a few more plants with varying severities of infestations had been found. It was decided between them that mending this was a priority and so Eros mixed a spray of nine parts water and one part Safer’s Insecticidal Soap. Eros came down upon all the aphids, scale insects and mealybugs like Death itself, vanquishing them (with some remorse). As he did Rae grew the collection of infected plants before him. She also established fly traps and moved purchasable cacti and succulents closer to the entrance to be more easily noticed. Approximately half the baskets needed to be treated thoroughly as well as the canna lilies beneath the benches; this kept Eros busy for the rest of the day. Rae spot watered still thirsty poinsettias, checking the root balls and monitoring for more pests. The pair was lucky enough to have one happy customer that day of Saturn.

They did their closing checklist, brought in the signs, put away the cash register and profit and dropped off the chaves with security after locking up.

The next day, the day of Sun, Rae and Eros ventured to get the keys to unlock and unleash their last day of weaving their essences into the flora of Fanshawe. Once in, they put their keen and penetrating minds to the tasks at hand. Partners mirrored partners with opening duties.

Eros gladly got caught in the orbit of the remaining infected plants, freeing them so that they may thrive, whilst Rae watered canna lilies and succulents, removing fallen or dead parts all the while. Later, Rae monitored for pests and then proceeded to analyze her fly traps for different insects (beneficial and detrimental) with the microscope and did research. That afternoon, she moved on to making new labels for pots to better organize them and Eros wrought mugo pine seeds into moist seed mix, cautious to give them enough space. Once done he placed them into the fridge so that they can stratify for two to four weeks. They came together at the end of the day to clean and clean the whole area for that is a top necessity in this kind of work.

Their weekend wrapped up nicely. They went through the closing checklist, put away the cash register, brought in the signs and double-checked that everything was good. Doors sealed, the two good everlasting friends strolled over to security to leave behind the keys of the House of Green!

The End... Perhaps

Weekend Greenhouse Duty Blog

Todd N. & Joshua D.

November 13, 14, 15, 2015

A Tale of two young men and the desire to learn

Day 1

                On the morning of Friday, November 13, 2015 there was a good feeling in the air. Both Joshua and Todd rose from their beds eager to start their weekend duty in the greenhouse at the London campus of Fanshawe College. When they arrived at the greenhouse Jeff Rowley was there to greet them and provide them with the information the two men needed to be able to successfully manage the greenhouse. He showed them how to open and close the greenhouse and how to monitor the conditions of the grow room using the Priva system. On the Wednesday prior to their weekend duty Todd met with Susan Millar and received a list of things to work on so the two budding horticulturalists would be prepared for their weekend. After Jeff was done with his orientation the two young men got right to work! They started with propagating succulents that were getting two big for their pots. With some careful use of secateurs, rooting hormone, and a steady hand Josh and Todd were able to turn one large plant into dozens of small ones that would be ready for sale in the future.

 They also started organizing pots in the tractor bay of the greenhouse. This proved to be a task that would not be handled easily. The pots put up such a fight that the two young men needed to take a break and rejuvenate their morale. This came at a convenient time because it was getting close to 5 and Josh and Todd needed to start with their greenhouse closing list. Once everything was wiped down, the temperatures all checked, and the curtains closed they discussed the things they had learned and parted ways. Both young men exuberant about what Saturday might bring.

Day 2

            Josh and Todd were both eager to get the day going on Saturday, November 14, 2015. Both of these men have never felt more enthusiastic about horticulture before this moment! When Josh and Todd got into the greenhouse on Saturday morning they got started right away on their list. Josh worked on opening the curtains to allow the light to hit the poinsettias, while Todd checked all of the graphs on the Priva system and made sure that all temperatures were in the correct range.

After the morning duties were finished Josh and Todd got busy working at getting the pots in the tractor bay organized. Big pots, small pots, medium pots, round pots, square pots, clay pots, and everything in between is what the two young men were dealing with. After this was completed they felt such an extremely large sense of accomplishment that it made it all worth it.

For the remainder of the day Josh and Todd did jobs that were not as high of a priority. They potted up a Caster Bean that was becoming too big for the pot it was in before. While this was being done Todd started taking the seeds out of the seed pods and separating them from the waste. In total there was approximately 100 seeds successfully extracted from the plant. He put the seeds into an envelope and labelled it accordingly so it can be dealt with properly on Monday.

They both got busy with closing up the greenhouse and making sure that everything was in its place and cleaned up properly. They both worked on shutting the curtains in the greenhouse to give the poinsettias the correct amount of time to be in the blackout. At the end of the day they went home with heavy hearts. Knowing that tomorrow, Sunday, would be their last day to implement all the skills that they have been learning on the week days in class.

Day 3

Sunday, November 15, 2015 was the final day that Josh and Todd could absorb knowledge about working and maintaining a functioning greenhouse with no supervision. They did not want to waste even a single minuet! The first thing they did was unlock the greenhouse and work on doing their opening list. The curtains in the greenhouse were opened up once again and the poinsettias could start to photosynthesize all the photons that beamed in through the glass panes. Most of the day was devoted to potting Cannas and putting them under the benches. They started with potting the ones that had the cultivar listed on the tag and left the other ones because they need time to grow so they can be identified easier in the future.

While working on the Cannas they were simultaneously making labels for everything in the greenhouse that did not already have a label.

Unfortunately they were not able to finish all of the Cannas because they had to stop and give the greenhouse a good, thorough cleaning. They washed everything. The benches got scrubbed, the floor got swept and moped, they put everything back where it belongs, the compost was taken to the compost, all of the plants in the greenhouse were checked and culture was applied as needed to them, and they made sure that the greenhouse would be in tip top shape for Monday. The story of the weekend that these two boys can be summed up in just a few words: teamwork, integrity, work ethic, attention to detail, and punctuality. Josh and Todd came into this weekend not knowing what to expect and left with a set of skills that they did not have before. They feel much more confident in a greenhouse environment and will be able to bring this with them to their work places after their time here at Fanshawe College is complete.

Greenhouse Weekend Duty Blog

Karima H. and Elizabeth L.

November 6, 7, 8 2015

The glorious weather outside made the weekend inside very bright and happy.

Friday November 6^th, 2015

To start off our day, we met Jeff in the greenhouse at 8 am to go over how to run the greenhouse and our daily duties which we had a checklist with all the details to follow. For the beginning of our day, we started by placing a shelve that had to be corrected by being welded, back on to the shelve section.  This job kept us on our toes, as we stepped onto the bottom shelve that the cactus were resting on to reconnect the shelve section. Afterwards, Elizabeth started walking the poinsettia crop; cleaning away dead foliage from the poinsettias and watering where needed. While Elizabeth tended to the poinsettia crop, I went along the far row and watered the cacti and stock baskets. Around 11, Sue came by and gave us our list of jobs to be completed this weekend. Once Sue left we got started dividing and transplanting the cannas in bulb crates. As we went along, we filled up the bench closest to the greenhouse. When each tray was placed down, we made sure that they all had their labels facing one direction. This created a very neat and professional effect.

Towards the end of the day, we finished with the bulb crate of cannas and then I walked the poinsettia crop and watered the odd plant that needed it. Considering they had just been watered yesterday, they didn’t need much watering. Euphorbia lactea was repotted as it was discovered uprooted from the soil and falling over. Getting closer to five, we started cleaning up the potting room. The floor and table got washed. Then we recorded the end of day temperatures from the Priva system, which is really informative, propagation chamber was checked and everything that the checklist laid out. We also submitted the Overview summary graph for the day. Overall our day was very packed and busy.

Saturday November 7^th, 2015

As I unlocked the doors to our new day in the greenhouse, you could feel the promise of a good day with the sunshine and coolness in the air. We started off our day by going to the computer using the Priva system to record the actual temperature and completed the opening checklist. Next we opened the shade curtains and then Elizabeth walked the crop. I took down each hanging stock basket, watered them and cut back the row of stock baskets. They looked brighter and happier afterwards. While I was paying attention to the stock baskets, Elizabeth reorganized the poinsettias by spacing them out.  Once that was done we continued on with the dividing and transplanting of the cannas. Elizabeth got a start on the cannas and I went on to do Interiorscape (watering the indoor plants) in B and T building. After lunch, I got started on the cannas with Elizabeth and by 330 pm, we had finished with the cannas.

With the cannas behind us, we cut back many of the stock plants and rearranged the plants so the labels faced the front. 

I then walked the crop and watered where needed. Next the shade curtains were closed and we completed our closing checklist.  This day was rather calm and steady with work.

Sunday November 8^th, 2015

We ran into the greenhouse today to escape the cold air and embrace the warmth. Throughout the day the sun came out making the day appear warmer outside.

To begin the day we finished our opening checklist. Once the shade curtains were open I walked the crop and turned on the emitters to water the poinsettias. Also I switched the emitters on for the stock baskets to make sure they got watered. While I walked the crop, Elizabeth cleaned out the water plant bin and cleaned up the water plants. The spent blooms and dead foliage were also cleaned up from the succulents, cacti, poinsettias and stock baskets. Next we continued facing the stock plants so the labels faced the front and finished off cutting them back. Yesterday, I had pointed out to Elizabeth the stunning Plectranthus ‘Mona Lavender’. It stood out to me due to its stunning blooms. She reminded me about it this morning saying how it was mentioned on a CBC program this morning. I found that interesting considering we just saw it yesterday in the greenhouse.

Afterwards we washed the bulb crates that the cannas had resided in and placed them in the outdoor area. While washing them down, I got a shower in the process. Then I took out the compost to the compost pile and while I did that, Elizabeth spread the waste potting soil into the raised beds attached to the greenhouse. She also picked up the garbage outside of the greenhouse. Once lunch was done we rolled up our sleeves and go to work cleaning the greenhouse until it sparkled. Now this isn’t to say the greenhouse wasn’t clean on Friday. It was. However we made a mess with our weekend duty and rightfully so had to clean it up. We spent a couple of hours cleaning the greenhouse floor, potting room floor, tractor bay, doors and windows. The greenhouse was cleaned up and down and sparkles like a star.

Overall this weekend was phenomenal because of the great weather outside which created a really positive vibe indoors. Plus how could we not have a great weekend with a poinsettia crop that looks this terrific? 

Greenhouse Weekend Duty Blog

Blayne & Thomas 

October 30^th, 31st & Nov 1^st

Friday

Working at the college this summer as a student gardener, I got to experience the best of both worlds; working in the greenhouse and maintaining the campus grounds. It was a great experience and I have to say I am very happy to be back working in the greenhouse this weekend with my partner Thomas. Here in the greenhouse we are gearing up for the Poinsettia sale that is approaching quickly. All of them are colouring fast and there will be a brilliant display of colour in the greenhouse as the sale approaches!  

Today began as a chilly cloudy morning but that did not stop my enthusiasm to get started! The first thing Thomas and I did was sign in and open the curtains for the Poinsettia black out period which is from 5:00 pm – 8:00 am. It is important to open and close them on time so they don't get disturbed while they are still developing colour. Then we did the opening walk through check list to make sure the facility was in tip top shape! This included checking the Priva greenhouse system of the temperatures, humidity, light etc. are at the right levels. After we completed our check list we began to "walk the crop". This is the opportunity to check out the foliage and root systems, which plants need to be watered and to look for any other problems that may be apparent. Until more tasks were assigned to us from Sue later in the morning, Thomas and I headed into the college to water the indoor plants. Around 11:00 am we returned to the greenhouse and met with Sue to go over all the duties we needed to complete this weekend. After a long list of things to complete, we immediately started making room for the grass transplants we were soon to get started on. We did this by moving some of the cacti and succulents over to the right side of the greenhouse along the racks from the greenhouse bench. To do this, we needed to gather some hanging baskets already on the racks, put hangers on them and hang them up along a full drip line system. With this extra room, we moved the remaining cacti and succulents with the rest. We then had enough room to lay the grass transplants along the bench.  For the short amount of time remaining we got a start on the divisions and transplanting of the grasses.

                                    

Saturday

Thomas and I started our day with the same procedure as yesterday morning which included the Priva system and watering, we then got right into finishing the divisions of the Pennisetum grasses. At a fast speed both of us were able to finish 8-10 full crates of grasses in a good amount of time. The grasses were Pennisteum  setaceum ‘Rubrum’, ‘Cherry Sparkler’ and  Pennisetum alopecuroides ‘Pennstripe’. As seen in the pictures I was very excited to get going on the greenhouse work that I missed and enjoyed from the summer. These divisions were transplanted into 24 cell packs per tray. In total we completed 11 trays. Once the divisions were completed we worked hard to make the tractor bay and potting room spotless! 

Sunday

Today began with spot watering the Poinsettias, as most of them were already well watered. When most of the Poinsettias are dry the use of emitters make watering a little easier. One emitter is placed in each pot to slowly water the crop. With the use of emitters some become clogged and need to be cleaned or replaced, which is what we did. While I was spot watering, I came upon this beautifully coloured Poinsettia. It’s one of the first examples of the cultivar ‘Premier Jingle Bells’ that caught my eye. As much as everything we did this weekend is important to running a greenhouse, cleanliness of the greenhouse is just as important. Thomas and I spent the morning washing down the greenhouse and tractor bay floors.  For the rest of the day we did little tasks that needed to be done. I made sure that any hand written labels from the greenhouse class on Wednesday were replaced with proper print out labels. This is important so every plant has the details needed for future reference. After I made a quick stop by the compost, Thomas attached Velcro on the blackout curtains and the wall to prevent any openings between the curtains. Exposure of the street lights and the lighting around campus could affect the colour development of the Poinsettias. 

As the sun started to go down, we wrapped up the weekend by completing our closing checklist, blacked out the greenhouse and signed off.  I enjoy greenhouse because there is always so much to do. Second year has been a blast so far! Now that my two weekend practicals are complete for this semester, with the help of a great partner, I have to say, I’m already looking forward to the greenhouse duty next semester.

Greenhouse Weekend Blog

October 23-25

R. Farrow and N. Rogers

Greenhouse weekend duty is a great responsibility and an excellent way to gain some hands on learning experience in the field. During the weekend duty we learn quite a lot about what it takes to run a greenhouse. Luckily during our weekend duty at the Fanshawe greenhouse we were able to take care of the beautiful poinsettia crop that are course is growing to sell towards the Christmas season. This also means we are in our crucial black out period that the poinsettias need, this back out period goes from five in the evening to eight in the morning. The poinsettias looked great this weekend with their foliage gathering that wonderful shade of red that we all love; the program is also growing other varieties this year.

On Friday October twenty third we started off with a walk through with Jeff on the opening and closing check list. Once we gained all the information we needed to successfully run a greenhouse for a weekend by ourselves we headed out to complete our tasks at hand. Our first objective was to walk the crop; this is a key factor in taking care of the plant stock in the greenhouse. When walking the crop, you must check the roots, stem, and foliage for anything out of the ordinary and cleaning up the plant from any dead foliage. Our next step at hand was to pull out the crates in the back underneath the stock basket shelf and move them to a spot were more sun would shine. We also raised crates off the floor to prevent excessive moisture that could lead to mold or rot. Once we had the crates organized we cleaned and spaced the tree poinsettias in the back corner of the green house. Then proceeded with removing swampy water from our water plants, finishing off that area we cleaned and moved over the elephant ears sit next to the water plants. Once everything was moved we created laminated signs to place in the greenhouse.

The following Saturday October twenty fourth was not the best day for good weather. Unfortunately for most of the day it just rained constantly, but we wouldn’t let the bad weather get in the way of completing our task. Of course we started with completing the check list and opening the black out curtains. We set off on figuring out the plants on the right hand shelf that interfered with the black out process, our goal was to move them down so they wouldn’t get in the way. We spent the first part moving smaller cacti to the shelf in the back to make room for the larger cacti that were being move down. Once we had everything moved to the right spot we got started on the biggest task for our weekend duty, to organize the stock basket by genus. We decided to organize the genus of the stock baskets alphabetically, with the A beginning from the doors and following down the shelf alphabetically using both top and bottom shelf. In the end we were triumphant and then went back over the organized stock basket to place any black labels that we could match.

Fortunately for our last day on Sunday October twenty fifth, we were blessed with some sunny weather. We started the day like usual with the opening list and sliding the black out curtains back, then finished off with walking the crop. With better weather on our side we headed out to clean up the garden beds next to the greenhouse. We removed all the dying annuals and cleaned up the grasses, to finish off the area we cleaned up the fall leaves that were piled up in the corners of the garden bed. When the beds were completed we headed back to the greenhouse to do a major cleaning. We bore down on the greenhouse cleaning with a vengeful purpose, in the greenhouse we pulled back the crates and swept underneath the right wall bench. Then swept the greenhouse before spraying down and using the squeegee to clean the floors. Then we moved on to the main structure of the greenhouse, we pulled back the media bins and recycling bins to sweep the floors. Dusting was also a large task wiping down window sills and storage units we finished of the room with spraying down the floor and giving it the squeegee run also. From there we moved on to the garage, we picked up scattered pots, and moved the Kubota’s to get a good sweep of the floor. Then finished off cleaning with emptying the floor drains cleaning out plant material and soil.  With some extra time, we went to the tool room and gave it a quick clean also. In all weekend duty went well and was an excellent learning experience, can’t wait to have another chance to work in the greenhouse.

Greenhouse Weekend Blog

Yujing and Kate

October 16-18, 2015

 

The core area of our horticulture program –the lovely greenhouse is the just place we have been waiting for long to work all by ourselves. Luckily, we find this precious opportunity to further our study and work experience in here. Our local weather has been temperamental lately since the approach of winter brings cold weather. It seems like the roots of many outdoor plants have already started to "rest" in their dormant period. However, in our greenhouse it is always spring all the year around. Most greenhouse plants are very sensitive to large or sudden changes in temperature. That is why we always put the temperature as the particularly crucial thing to consider.

 

Day 1: Even though the cold and windy weather almost drove us crazy, it still could not stop our enthusiasm to learn. After we finished the four sections of CLT, everyone was happy to go and celebrated as a champion with delicious beers, and yet it was our time to go back to the main campus and started our weekend duty as a fresh new day. I never went through such a busy day, but it is definitely a good way to promote ourselves mentally, physically, emotionally, as well as spiritually. As we got there, our teachers helped us to go over the overall process about the greenhouse management. I shouldn’t have missed such a valuable time to learn, so I recorded carefully for all the details. I went out to work with Jamieson to dig out all the tropical plants which we planted in the containers and plant beds before, because they wouldn’t survive at all during the winter.

 

 

In this race for time game, me and Jamieson found tons of potatoes from an inconspicuous container. At first, we were quite confused about these red strange rhizomes and a taxi driver who was smoking beside us said that ‘they are sweet potatoes.’ I suddenly felt a little bit embarrassed because we just got our plant identification test done, and yet we didn’t recognize that what were they. Maybe we just didn’t want to believe that there was editable plants suddenly appearing in an unbelievable place. Thoughts are habitual and some time they are difficult to overcome. What we need to do is to get off the prescribed path and make your own. Anyway, we had to cut all the stems of the Pennisetum sataceum ‘Rubrum’ (common name: Red Fountain Grass) and served them a comfortable place to get ready to winter. During the time of pruning, I started to think about many things. All of those distant memories of the plants came flooding back to me, such as my magpie habit about roses and orchids, the first time to transplant 1000 poinsettias with my dear co-workers and even my grandmother’s backyard which was overgrown by Zephyranthes candida (whiter wind flower), and how much I was bonded with them. Repetitive work needs more patient than you think especially in the greenhouse. I guess this is a good method to find your own enjoyment.

 

 

Day 2: We had the first snowy day of 2015 on Saturday. Time passes quickly like a white pony's shadow across a crevice. I’m glad that I am the second year student now. In the morning, me and Kate went out site by site to find out those tropical plants from the containers and plant beds, and brought them back to the greenhouse. We didn’t want to waste any time, because nobody else wanted to see an icy plant on the road. When we saw a mountain of cannas and fountain grasses just piled in front of us at the greenhouse, we almost had nervous breakdowns. Are you kidding me? So, we had to take steps to speed up a solution to this problem. We used every method we could to achieve the goal and even didn’t notice the time and relax. It was not easy at all to identify these cannas’ cultivars, but we had already tried our best. What a hectic day, but it was worthy.

 

 

Day 3: We started to move the succulents from two sides of greenhouse to the front bench and gave them a good organization, and then settled them by the same family. Plants’ family names always reveal a lot of information. For some simple examples, most of the plants which come from Rosaceae family are edible and their flowers are very stunning. Most Ranunculacea family’s plants are poisonous with showy flowers. Anyhow, we won’t discuss more about biological evolution. As a true plant lover, we can focus on the details about the plants and get a lot of fun from them. Cleaning is one of the most important things in our greenhouse. I really want to design a kind of intelligent cleaner which can finish a full-automatic cleaning one day, because it will set us free from the endless daily cleaning. We must be meticulous for this task, and the reason is not just for a good-looking surrounding, but mainly for the IPM (integrated pest management). Keep in mind that precaution is always the best way for a healthy plant!

 

Weekend Maintenance Blog

Emily and Jamieson

 

Friday October 16^th , 2015

             Jamieson and I began our weekend duty at the Fanshawe College gardens separately. Jamieson, along with half of our class, spent Friday morning in Strathroy at Cuddy Gardens completing 5 stations of the CLT certification. I spent the morning at Fanshawe with Jeff going over what Jamieson and I were going to be doing for the weekend. We took the RTV and drove over to Residence 2. This was where we were going to spend the majority of our weekend, cleaning up the gardens.

            I too then had to make my way to Cuddy Gardens to complete the first portion of the CLT certification. Myself and the rest of the afternoon group had to be at Cuddy Gardens for 11:30 for registration. We all then got to enjoy the delicious lunch that Landscape Ontario provided for us!

             As expected everyone was pretty nervous for the CLT testing. Overall the day went well, apart from the cold and wind in the afternoon. The judges were always extremely friendly, and helpful when they could be. Michael, Tim and Lucas did a fabulous job preparing for the testing and keeping our spirits up during the day. You could tell Tim enjoyed enhancing his mega-phone skills and keeping us in line.

            Jamieson returned to Fanshawe after the lunch, to work for part of the day. He spent the afternoon digging up some grasses and canna lilies from some of the gardens and planters around the campus. The cana lilies are especially important to bring inside as they cannot survive our harsh cold winters. They enjoy a much warmer, more tropical climate.

 Saturday, October 17^th, 2015

             We began the day circle checking the RTV and tractor and trailer, as we would be needing it for the day. We then headed to R2 to begin cleaning up the garden beds. The hostas were the first on our list to tackle. Since we have enough work to do in the spring, we cut back the hostas now. That took up most of our morning, then we began cleaning up the aftermath , which was a lot!  We had filled the hydraulic trailer with mostly hosta leaves and stalks.

 

              In the afternoon we finished cleaning up the hosta leftovers and some leaves. We did leave a good portion of the leaves behind, as they provide a good nutrient source for the lawn and the garden.  We made sure not to leave big piles of leaves, as they would cause the grass underneath to die. The two flower beds near the entrance we edged and weeded it in preparation for mulching the next day. At the end of the day we gave the greenhouse crew Yujing and Kate a hand with the shade curtains for the poinsettias blackout period.

 Sunday, October 18^th, 2015

 

 

            The day began with a cold morning, and snow! We even had to pull out our snow brushes to scrape our cars off before we came.  In order to continue our job from yesterday, we signed out both tractors and one of the RTV's to use for mulching. We had a bit more cleaning up to do in one of the beds before spreading the mulch. After that mulching took up most of our day, as we had to make many trips to the other side of the campus to our compost area, which is also where we keep our mulch. Mulching in the autumn helps provide extra insulation, as well as keeping the weeds at bay in the following spring. It again also saves valuable time in the spring mulching in the autumn.

 

              Though Friday was stressful, and the weekend was cold. We all kept up our positive energy to keep working and get the job done! Jamieson has already completed his greenhouse weekend duty for the semester, I have still yet to complete mine. However, I am looking forward it, and all the learning I will be doing!

BLOG: MTNC Weekend Practical

By: Nick Tolhurst, Chris Potten

October 9^th 2015: Chris and I arrived at the greenhouse to check in and ready to work for 8AM. First thing in the morning we went for an irrigation lesson that Tim was teaching until around 8:30AM. Jeff then instructed us as to what were to be doing. We were told that we were going to be weeding at Z building. I went and got the tools out of the tool room that we would be using. Chris went and got the tractor and trailer, then picked up the tools I set out. We then met at Z building to get started. Jeff then showed up and gave us a walkthrough as to what needed to be done. We completed the front of Z building; weeded and raked to aerate the soil. We then cleaned up and headed back to the greenhouse. We then received a call from our prof. saying that the sliding door cable had snapped in the tool room, so we put a caution sign on it. After that we signed out.

                   

                                                                                   Before         

 

 

                                                                                       After

October 10^th 2015: Chris and I arrived at the greenhouse to check in and ready to work for 8AM. I then drove over to Z building to meet up with Chris. He drove the tractor over with the trailer and tools again. We continued where we left off with the weeding, and raking at Z building. We completed the median of the parking lot, and 3 of the 5 garden sectionals at the front. We raked and weeded the area. We then cleaned up and brought the equipment back. When we arrived back at the greenhouse we had some extra time so we helped Travis and Jeff with some of the greenhouse duties, then signed out.

 

 

October 11^th 2015: Chris and I arrived at the greenhouse to check in and ready to work for 8 AM. Chris went to drive the tractor and trailer with all of the tools but it fell off the hitch. Luckily it unhitched before it left the campus. The knob which holds the trailers coupler was missing the nut. Chris placed the trailer back onto the knob and drove slowly and was able to get it back to C building. We believe the knob was too small for the coupler in the first place. This took a good chunk out of our day to figure it out. We ended up driving our vehicles over to Z building carrying the tools in our cars. We completed the sectional gardens at the front and got ¾ of the side of Z building weeded and raked. We then cleaned the tools, put the equipment back, and headed back to the greenhouse and signed out.