The A.M.Cuddy Garden: Winter preparations in the nursery

Winter preparation at the Cuddy Garden greenhouse

Bill Nichols and Nate Mckim

With the autumn season underway and the cold winter months fast approaching, preparation for the season to come is very important in any garden scenario and here at the Cuddy garden, we make all possible efforts to ensure sure we’re fully prepared for winter and to assist in next year’s growing efforts. This past weekend Bill Nichols and I engaged in several activities around the Cuddy gardens and Fanshawe Collage Campus, primarily at the micro nursery of Cuddy’s, to aid in these preparation efforts.

Colocassias ready to dry down for the winter

The majority of Friday was devoted to the annual planters at Cuddy’s. Most of the plants had begun to show frost damage so we started scraping all the plants except for various tender, desirable plants such as Colocasia’s and Pennisetum’s to be saved and potted up for winter storage. That afternoon we devoted the rest of our day to general greenhouse tasks such as potting up any remaining rooted cutting taken over the summer, adjusting media levels in shallow pots, baiting all the rodent stations with rodenticide and some final annual propagation.

Some tender sedges and ornamental grasses ready for cool storage

Wax bait to control voles and mice in the cold frames

A simple and effective bait station made of ABS pipe

The propagation deserves special mention due to how often it is used around here as a way of continuously not having to purchase new plants on a yearly basis for our collection. The cuttings are taken and treated with a 0.3 IBA rooting gel and placed in “Jiffy” peat cubes that have been previously filled with a mix of 50% promix HP and 50% pearlite for the extra drainage required for the rooting process. The cuttings are then placed inside the misting chamber to provide them with adequate moisture until they root and are able to better fend for themselves. The plants we were focusing on taking cuttings from were; Plectranthus variegate and a Brugmansia of an unknown species which will hopefully develop strong roots before the weather gets too cold.

Jiffy pots, great for a wide range of cuttings

Cutting mix

On Saturday we were called back to main campus to assist in assembling heat mats for the greenhouse. On campus they are also very busy digging up tender plants from around the grounds to be potted up for winter storage and the heat mats assist in providing the recently dug up plants with a favorable root zone temperature.

On Sunday we were back at Cuddy’s devoting most of the day to propagation by crown division of Calamagrostis acutiflora ‘karl foerster’. We potted the divided plants in a mix of 4 parts grow bark to 1 part promix to ensure all the necessary nutrients. With what time was left we did some general house cleaning and space consolidation in the greenhouse. These tasks are important to ensure a productive and safe work environment.