Travis M and Jeff B, Weekend practicum September 18-20

September 18-20, 2015

                School is back in session and that means its weekend practical time for the 2^nd year students. The first weekend duties of the semester began on Friday with Jeff and myself being out at Cuddy Gardens. A wet weekend, as well as a very chilly Sunday morning is just a reminder that fall is on its way. But that didn’t hinder our spirits as we were both excited to get to work and see the beginning of the of the beautiful fall colors the gardens offer.                                                                                  

                Friday morning was a brief orientation as Lucas showed us the ins and outs of the alarm system and a run through of the list for the weekend which was filled with all sorts of fun tasks. After a watering of the hanging baskets and planters, most of the day was spent on organizing and construction prep for our class paver project which we will be starting soon. As a class we will be placing pavers under the cash tent and the hoop house behind it for a new look. We are excited to get started! We also did other housekeeping tasks such as organizing pots and moving items into storage.

                   

Before

 

After

                                                          

                                                                                 

                While sorting pots in the afternoon we looked up to see the group of curious cows checking in on our progress and enjoying the cooler temperatures.

 

Saturday brought with it a bunch of rain which made for a dirty day. We had to make some more space, so we dug up and cut some fabric from underneath the first house to be place it between house one and two with our trays and crates on top. The reason for this was so that the roots don’t grow through the bottom of the pots and penetrate the soil. A tedious job to say the least as there was lots of gravel to dig up. We also did some repairs and other maintenance tasks around the gardens, as well as removing the old Fanshawe logos from the gates to be updated with the new logo.

 

               









Sunday morning was surprisingly cold as temperatures in the morning we only eight degrees, but warmed up in the afternoon and made for a beautiful day to be working outside. We were finally able to do some push mowing and line trimming as there was no rain and the sun shining. The majority of the rest of the day was spent weeding and pruning the shrubs in front of Cuddy farms as it was much needed. The junipers we cleaned of dead wood and the shrubs pruned back due to over growing.  We both had to get right in the thick of things to accomplish our task which made for a rather good photo. At the very end of the day, and to ensure they had been in them as long as possible we moved our many cuttings from their home in the misting house to be brought to the college on Monday.  We then disconnected the misting houses and moved them out of the way of the construction zone.

 

 Minus the rain it was a good weekend as a lot was accomplished and felt good being back to work and back in school.