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?