Greenhouse Weekend Duty March 15-17th/2019

            This weekend our tasks were correlated with change: rejuvenation and preparation and Friday presented us with many opportunities to do so. As spring is fast approaching many things are changing in the greenhouse and it was the first weekend of hydrangea sales. Within the last few weeks they have produced some beautiful, large and colourful blooms. Their foliage is also a deep green which is lovely, and no necrosis which is hard to obtain. As the hydrangeas bloomed; so has spring. Our first change/rejuvenation was cleaning up our stock baskets and hanging them up to make room for our new inventory we will be receiving. We then had a change in plans as we were requested to lend our voice to Cuddy Gardens video. It was very interesting as neither of us had recorded in a professional studio before. As the day progressed, we began preparation for the spring by sowing herb seeds (parsley, chives and sweet basil) and filling one gallon pots to prepare for our incoming perennials. We then rejuvenated some Schlumbergera and seedlings by giving them a thorough drink of water. Overall it was a great first day to start our weekend duty.

            On Saturday we continued with our tasks. During our opening checklist, I checked the germination chamber and found a lot of the seeds were now seedlings! It was amazing to see them spring up overnight

          We then watered and prepared hydrangeas to be put in our F building Ficus planters to rejuvenate them and hopefully attract some sales to the greenhouse. They were then put out and the ficus planters were watered. 

In the afternoon we had a few customers come in as the weather was beautiful! As we were preparing and changing for the spring, so was the weather coincidentally. Although this weather was lovely, it meant the hydrangea crop dried out so we decided to water in the early afternoon. After watering we took pH and E.C. readings. We noticed the pH and E.C. was off so decided to fertilize. Because we watered in the afternoon we chose to fertilize the next day. We noticed many customers enjoyed the Tivoli cultivar. In the afternoon we continued to sow herbs and fill pots for perennials.

            Sunday was exciting as London was hosting the Junos and it also was St. Patrick’s day: however, it was a pretty relaxed day in the greenhouse. We began the day with our opening checklist, and decided to do our fertilizing early to correct their pH and E.C. levels. Rob finished up potting the perennial mix in 405 one gallon pots and 200 four inch rounds.

We sold some succulents and hydrangeas throughout the day. We then watered most of the greenhouse, including the cannas, seedlings, alocasia, perennial grass, petunias/petunia baskets, and four inch pot stock plants. We spent the rest of the day cleaning up and tying up any loose ends. All in all, there was a clear theme this weekend. The hydrangeas are blooming, and as spring approaches, the greenhouse will produce more crops such as herbs, perennials, cannas, etc. There was lots of change and rejuvenation with the stock baskets. It was a great weekend and I’m excited to see the change into spring.