Hot Week in the Gardens and Greenhouse
July 8, 2018
Geoffrey T.

The heat this past week at Fanshawe College made working outside difficult, even in the shade if you were lucky enough to find it. The only real break from the heat is when a storm came through and dropped a large sum of water on us, good thing we were already soaked with sweat.  

The most of our time this week was spent at the Z campus gardens.

 As part of our ongoing garden maintenance routine we weeded and prepared the beds to receive mulch. Mulch being a major strategy in our weed control program, laying a thick layer of mulch around established plants prevents the weeds from germinating and creates a difficult environment for the weed to grow should it germinate.  After many full wheelbarrows and a few tractor loads we raked out all the beds leaving a clean mulched look. 

 In preparation for our incoming poinsettia crop, and since selling or planting out our spring annual crop, we emptied the greenhouse of all plants. With the greenhouse empty it was the perfect time to clean and sterilize the place, Emily braved the heat to get this done. With no plants in the greenhouse environmental controls are not needed to keep the greenhouse hospitable to plants, we use this time to allow the greenhouse heat up (over fifty degrees Celsius) to create a truly inhospitable environment for life.

Not only do we overheat any pest in the greenhouse during this process, we starve them by removing any food source. 

It is the time of year when we are getting treated with many colourful lilies; purples, pinks, yellows, oranges and reds.