A Weekend Practical At Cuddy Gardens- October 10/2014-October 12/2014

Chantdell Shearer, Greg Jewell, Sharri Honsberger

 

Friday October 10/2014,

Upon arriving at Cuddy Gardens today the weather was very displeasing. The sun was shining but the day was cold damp and windy. Today was CLT testing on irrigation, tree planting, and plant identification.  We only had a half day of work so beginning in the morning Greg and Chantdell started to pull all the annuals from the hatchery beds in front of the Cuddy Farm building.

Annuals need to be removed as they are only successful for the spring and summer months. After that time if they are not removed it can cause rot, which allows pathogens and diseases to spread into other plants such as trees, shrubs and perennials. By removing these plants they can be composted and turned into fertile organic matter. Greg and Chantdell completed half the hatchery bed .They removed Salvia sp., Salvia officinalis (Sage), Senecio cineraria (Dusty Miller), Petroselinum crispum (Parsley) and one Nicotiana tabacum (Tobacco),while extracting unwanted weeds and keeping the garden and surrounding areas clean and crisp. At that time Sharri was completing her CLT testing. By 11:30 am we switched and Sharri began extracting Tagetes sp. (Marigolds), Salvia sp. and Senecio cineraria (Dusty miller) from the upper garden. Sharri lifted the Colocasia esculenta (Elephant Ears) and temporarily crated them. Colocasia  esculenta needs to be removed before frost is present as they are a tropical plant and when the frost hits this plant it will travel to the corm inducing rot, destroying all chance of survival. She also lifted Carex 

 which is a semi-hardy grass that needs to be stored indoors as it will not survive our harsh winters.  At 4:00pm CLT was completed and together we organized the gardens back to normality.

Saturday October 11/2014

                Today we were welcomed by warm sunshine a nice cool breeze and a tad bit of misty rain. We began our day by re-organizing the plants used for the CLT. We placed them into their appropriate greenhouses  and removed the lunch tables out of the main greenhouse (hoop house #3) and into the classroom.

Then we organized the classroom for proper lectures. We successfully irrigated the hoop houses to supercharge the evergreens so that they have adequate water storage for the winter to help prevent dessication. While irrigating we also have helped the perennials that have been recently transplanted to help grow on a bit of roots before winter falls to prevent die-off .  Upon irrigating, Chantdell noticed that one of the cows in the pasture was stuck in the mud. So without any delay she went to the poor cow’s aide.

Greg and Chantdell completed the hatchery beds and Sharri began to work on the planters removing existing annuals. She also properly crated the Colocasia esculenta  so that they may be stored inside the pool room for the winter.

Chantdell and Greg composted all food from the CLT lunch and the plant waste and we all washed the tools that we used for proper sanitation and prevention of disease.

 

 

Sunday October 12/2014

   The weather this morning was cool and frigid, the frost covered the ground like a blanket - a sure sign winter temperatures are on their way. We began our morning by irrigating the hoop houses, as tomorrow is a holiday and we need to make sure the plants had enough water for the next couple days.  The Spartina pectinata ‘Aureomarginata’ (Golden Edged Prairie Cord Grass) was invading the dry garden so we lifted the grass out and replaced it with Taxus baccata (Irish yew). 

Also the Liquidambar styraciflua ‘Oconee’ was completely deceased so it was replaced with a Buxus  sp. 

Greg dismantled the hanging baskets in the enclosed patio for autumn winterization and Chantdell cleaned up all the debris with the back-pack blower.  Sharri cut the grass in the upper garden and behind the house in the walnut garden with a push mower, as the riding lawn mower cannot fit into those areas.  The tools were sanitized and put away.