Courtney, Evan, and Ajay

Day 1

The first day of our last practical (we actually made it!) started a bit chilly for being the middle of April but still it was better than the snow that had graced us the week before. After Courtney opened the house up we sat down and took a moment to wake ourselves up, as we waited for the dreaded eight am to come. After the 8 am rolled around we set off to the tool shed to pick out our weapons of choice:  the mighty loppers, the faithful shears and the fearsome (and singular) hand saw. Upon reaching our work site we divided ourselves up and set to the mission at hand which was spring cleanup of the front Iris garden.  One of the main tasks the removal of DDDI’s (dead, dying, diseased and interfering) branches, suckers and water sprouts. The other task was the cutting hydrangeas down to 6-8 inches with the nearest bud. Everything was going smoothly until we came across a Weigela that looked like it was dead. We started with removing the obvious DDDI’s. Then we carefully removed smaller select stems with our Felco secateurs, checking each stem as we pruned (looking for signs of life but there was none!). Next we moved up to loppers, again selecting certain stems then checking for signs of life alas they were lacking that necessary xylem and phloem flow.  We discussed cutting the whole plant down but before we came to a conclusion we broke for lunch. During our lunch Pascoe showed up and we decided to show him the plant to get his opinion. After giving the Weigela a once over, Pascoe informed us that the plant was in fact still alive, so we cleaned it up a bit more and moved on.

 

 

Day 2

Saturday morning started even colder than yesterday bringing with it frost. Thankfully no more snow but the frost was unfortunate for anyone who planted any tender plants thinking the cold was gone. After removing frost from the windshields of our vehicles we set off for Strathroy.  Upon arriving we decided what tasks were our main priorities for the morning. Courtney started with edging on the Iris garden while Ajay and Evan went to the front of Cuddys to remove stones that were thrown from the highway into the turf, using an Echo paddle sweeper. After Ajay and Evan finished their tasks they set off to do edging, with Ajay going to help Courtney on the Iris bed and Evan attacking the very front garden. This continued on for the rest of the day only taking a break from it to do a few tasks that Pascoe had assigned when stopping by. Such as giving two Spruce new leaders to replace their original ones which had died.

 

Day 3

Today started the warmest of them all, not a bad way to start the final day of the final practical. After arriving at the house we sat down to discuss what tasks were left for us to do and realized that we were pretty much done so instead of checking off the few last tasks on our list first we decided help out the other groups with their tasks first. Courtney decided to go help Katlyn and Adam with their tasks. First Katlyn and Courtney started by rounding up the equipment needed for the day. They started by removing all of the dead Cedar root balls from the Cedar Border by the Polyhouses. They then filled the leftover holes from the root balls and started to mulch. Thinking it would be a good idea to let the mulch dry out so it wasn’t as heavy, Courtney and Katlyn moved up to the front of the property to finish the pruning of the Dogwoods and Ninebarks. Evan went to help Brandy and Dave with their tasks at the greenhouse which included: repotting Pines into larger pots and then takings some annual bulbs and repacking them into bulb trays (making sure to water them in as we went along). After we finished assisting the other groups we regrouped to finish our last task, blowing all the hardscapes to remove any debris on them. This task was short and sweet just the way we like it, after that we did one final check of the gardens up front and then cleaned up. Although the last day was hectic, stepping back and taking a second you can’t help but admire all the beauty that the Cuddy Gardens has to offer. It will certainly be missed by all of us! You can guarantee to see a lot of our faces at the Cuddy Garden Open House the first weekend in June! Hope to see you all there as well!