November 3, 2011
Last day in the Bridal Bed for the season. Finished weeding in the Swing Garden, weeded the tree circles, little bit more pruning of dead branches on the Cotoneaster. 2 other students planted winter pansies.
4 gardeners, 8 hours
November 2, 2011
Brief bit of weeding in the Swing Garden after being tested on the blower and potting on. The heavens opened up, there was torrential rain and that was the end of it.
2 gardeners, 3 hours
October 27, 2011
Last week I was doing a work experience at Government House which was great - lots of maintenance jobs to do and we planted 2 native gardens. Today, back in the Bridal bed, only a couple of days left to work here. We continued to clean up the spent annuals and some of the herbaceous plants: nigella, eryngium, calla lillies and the gaura that had flopped over. We're also working on a garden sketch of the main bed so that the school knows what we had and where the gaps are.
4 gardeners, 5 hours
Also worked in the front entrance bed, removing the oxalis that continues to spread - it has become a carpet. We are preparing the bed for bulbs.
October 12, 2011
Removed some of the dead organic matter in the garden from finished flowers - some of the phlox has deteriorated and the calla lillies were flopped over and slimy. They had been divided recently so were only half their size. Weeded some of the ever present fireweed. Also worked with another student trimming the thuja hedge by the stairs - used hedge trimmer and shears. He had spray painted a line first to get the top even and straight prior to trimming. After it was cut, we raked it for loose ends and swept everything into a tarp for easy removal.
1 gardener, 1 hour clean up
2 gardeners, 3 hours hedge trimming
October 5, 2011
Worked in the Country garden beside our Bridal Bed. They are preparing the beds for a re-design. I replanted a number of plants that had been in another area that is currently being revised.
1 gardener, 2 hours
September 28, 2011
Blower
Worked in Country Garden digging up turf in preparation for soil being added - 1 hour.
September 21, 2011
Back after 1 week work placement. Practiced on the ride-on Toro in the field. The scarecrows make a great obstacle course.
September 8, 2011
Incredibly hot day, 28C at least! Completed the cosmos deadheading, pulled the remnants of the grass, raked and filled the holes. Next time, we will trim the lavender back and start collecting more seed from our flowers.
2 gardeners, 3 hours
September 7, 2011
In between testing on the Aerator and De-Thatcher we worked in the Bridal beds. Last week we collected seed from the grass Hordeum jubatum which dried in paper bags. 2 of us collected the seed which is rather a tedious job but kept us out of the heat for while (26C). The cosmos were starting to look leggy and we won't be working in the garden next week so the Head Gardener made the call to deadhead and remove all flowers and leave the buds. Next week, they won't look as bad.
2 gardeners seed collecting, 1 hour
3 gardeners deadheading, 3 hours
August 31, 2011
Weeded the swing bed as it hadn't been done for a while (30 min). I had started pruning our dwarf apple trees yesterday so I finished that up (30 min). Most of the time was spent collecting the seed from the annual Hordeum jubatum which is the Squirrel-tail grass growing with the cosmos. It has gone to seed and the seeds are blowing around the garden. We collected enough for propagation in a paper bag (plus 2 more bags) and they will sit for a week until the spiral part around the seed breaks down. We'll separate the seed next week. After collecting the seed, we cut the grass down and put in garbage to try and contain its spread. Cosmos were deadheaded as well.
3 gardeners, 1.5 hours
August 25, 2011
- spent a short time deadheading cosmos and weeding the portulaca from beneath the grass; it was excessively hot today
1 gardener, 1/2 hour
August 24, 2011
- several of the larger perennials (Veronicastrum, Eryngium, Gaura) were knocked down by the heavy rain the other day - they have almost finished blooming and it is too late to stake at this point, hopefully they will stand up more when the soil dries which shouldn't take long as the last couple of days have been around 25/26 C
- some of the Veronicastrum were pruned down to new buds in the hopes of a 2nd bloom - the bees made it difficult to cut them all
- found a bird's nest in the west garden, one of the students thought it was a junco's nest
- deadheaded more cosmos along the top border, cut back some of the cotton-y-easter that was extending into the brick path, we want to keep it trailing over the stone wall
- the ornamental grass has gone to seed, next week I'll bring paper bags to collect it in
1 gardener, 2 hours
August 16, 2011
- mostly removed the spent blooms in the Bridal Bed; deadheaded cosmos; turned the irrigation on for about 20 minutes because of all the sunshine that we've had lately and plants look a bit dry
1 gardener, 2.5 hours
- observations - should identify the bare spots in the garden that could be addressed by next year's students; the irrigation in the ring bed where the cosmos are cannot be manually turned on; our Magnolia Stellata died last week and was removed by Head Gardener; apples are ripening on several apple trees around the swing garden - bees and butterflies love our garden
Aug 10, 2011
- all 4 of us back in the Bridal Bed for the first time in quite a while - what had looked chlorotic for quite some time has finally recovered and the beds are very full and lush - most of the work at the moment is the typical care of a perennial bed: deadheading (cosmos), cutting back spent blooms, staking
- the irrigation is on a timer now, no longer manual however with the heat of the last 2 weeks, the settings probably need to be adjusted as the bed did appear dry
4 people 10 hours
July 27, Aug 3, 2011
- student break!!
July 20, 2011
- my week to do the watering in the gardens - at the end of the day I did 1/2 hour of deadheading cosmos in the Bridal Bed
July 13, 2011
- in the morning worked with the head gardener on centralizing the irrigation system in a number of beds, including the Bridal Bed
- an excavator was rented and he dug out a massive trail of trenches for burying the wire and pipe that linked the various control boxes - students filled in the trenches and tamped the gravel down - I was able to do some pipe cutting and glueing at one of the main boxes - I continued working on this in the afternoon to get as much irrigation experience as I could
July 6, 2011
- I was unable to get to school today as my car and my backup car both broke down - no gardening for me
June 29, 2011
- weeding, deadheading, staked the white hyacinth, planted about 16 dahlias in the empty spots, also baited for slugs, watered both gardens - we have irrigation but it has to be manually turned on
1 person, 3 hours
June 22, 2011
- missed working in the Bridal bed because I was string trimming in the orchard - after 1 hour, I could not lift my water bottle to my mouth and could feel an internal vibration in my bones; 5 days later still experiencing intermittent numbness in some fingers
June 15, 2011
2 people, 5 hours, weeding
- fertilized the plants that we put in a couple of weeks ago because they look worse than when originally planted - nicotiana is yellow and the lobelia is red - fertilized with 15-15-15 slow release; the upper border was weeded by volunteers in the morning
- weeded around the Viburnum snowball which is peaking in bloom
- previously some hops had been planted by the swing with the intention that it would climb the trellis but that area is extremely wet - pools of water, so it didn't take
June 2, 2011
completed annual plantings; put some in swing bed too and weeded as well
4 people 6 hours
June 1, 2011
We retrieved flats of our plants that we had growing in the poly houses: mattiola, nicotiana, lobeliea, cleome and planted then in our beds.
design: lobelia front 6" apart, nicotiana 10" apart in 2nd row; mattiola is just about finished but it was woven throughout the middle of the bed; cleome - looking a bit chlorotic and only about 6" high but with the expectation that it will grow to 4' was planted zigzag in the back row
4 people, 10 hours
May 25, 2011
I was away but the annual planting was completed.
May 24, 2011
annual planting: amended the top ring bed, pulled out Bellis perennis and Aubrieta and planted cosmos and grasses; 4 people 12 hours
May 18, 2011
weeding: fireweed, thistle, poa annua both in main beds and swing garden
deadheading: bellis along the upper border
pests: found some tent catepillar nests on apple tree in swing garden; they were removed, bagged and tossed in garbageLast day in the Bridal Bed for the season. Finished weeding in the Swing Garden, weeded the tree circles, little bit more pruning of dead branches on the Cotoneaster. 2 other students planted winter pansies.
4 gardeners, 8 hours
November 2, 2011
Brief bit of weeding in the Swing Garden after being tested on the blower and potting on. The heavens opened up, there was torrential rain and that was the end of it.
2 gardeners, 3 hours
October 27, 2011
Last week I was doing a work experience at Government House which was great - lots of maintenance jobs to do and we planted 2 native gardens. Today, back in the Bridal bed, only a couple of days left to work here. We continued to clean up the spent annuals and some of the herbaceous plants: nigella, eryngium, calla lillies and the gaura that had flopped over. We're also working on a garden sketch of the main bed so that the school knows what we had and where the gaps are.
4 gardeners, 5 hours
Also worked in the front entrance bed, removing the oxalis that continues to spread - it has become a carpet. We are preparing the bed for bulbs.
October 12, 2011
Removed some of the dead organic matter in the garden from finished flowers - some of the phlox has deteriorated and the calla lillies were flopped over and slimy. They had been divided recently so were only half their size. Weeded some of the ever present fireweed. Also worked with another student trimming the thuja hedge by the stairs - used hedge trimmer and shears. He had spray painted a line first to get the top even and straight prior to trimming. After it was cut, we raked it for loose ends and swept everything into a tarp for easy removal.
1 gardener, 1 hour clean up
2 gardeners, 3 hours hedge trimming
October 5, 2011
Worked in the Country garden beside our Bridal Bed. They are preparing the beds for a re-design. I replanted a number of plants that had been in another area that is currently being revised.
1 gardener, 2 hours
September 28, 2011
Blower
Worked in Country Garden digging up turf in preparation for soil being added - 1 hour.
September 21, 2011
Back after 1 week work placement. Practiced on the ride-on Toro in the field. The scarecrows make a great obstacle course.
September 8, 2011
Incredibly hot day, 28C at least! Completed the cosmos deadheading, pulled the remnants of the grass, raked and filled the holes. Next time, we will trim the lavender back and start collecting more seed from our flowers.
2 gardeners, 3 hours
September 7, 2011
In between testing on the Aerator and De-Thatcher we worked in the Bridal beds. Last week we collected seed from the grass Hordeum jubatum which dried in paper bags. 2 of us collected the seed which is rather a tedious job but kept us out of the heat for while (26C). The cosmos were starting to look leggy and we won't be working in the garden next week so the Head Gardener made the call to deadhead and remove all flowers and leave the buds. Next week, they won't look as bad.
2 gardeners seed collecting, 1 hour
3 gardeners deadheading, 3 hours
Hordeum jubatum separated
August 31, 2011
Weeded the swing bed as it hadn't been done for a while (30 min). I had started pruning our dwarf apple trees yesterday so I finished that up (30 min). Most of the time was spent collecting the seed from the annual Hordeum jubatum which is the Squirrel-tail grass growing with the cosmos. It has gone to seed and the seeds are blowing around the garden. We collected enough for propagation in a paper bag (plus 2 more bags) and they will sit for a week until the spiral part around the seed breaks down. We'll separate the seed next week. After collecting the seed, we cut the grass down and put in garbage to try and contain its spread. Cosmos were deadheaded as well.
3 gardeners, 1.5 hours
Hordeum jubatum in paper bag
August 25, 2011
- spent a short time deadheading cosmos and weeding the portulaca from beneath the grass; it was excessively hot today
1 gardener, 1/2 hour
beautiful aster in the bridal bed
August 24, 2011
- several of the larger perennials (Veronicastrum, Eryngium, Gaura) were knocked down by the heavy rain the other day - they have almost finished blooming and it is too late to stake at this point, hopefully they will stand up more when the soil dries which shouldn't take long as the last couple of days have been around 25/26 C
- some of the Veronicastrum were pruned down to new buds in the hopes of a 2nd bloom - the bees made it difficult to cut them all
- found a bird's nest in the west garden, one of the students thought it was a junco's nest
- deadheaded more cosmos along the top border, cut back some of the cotton-y-easter that was extending into the brick path, we want to keep it trailing over the stone wall
- the ornamental grass has gone to seed, next week I'll bring paper bags to collect it in
1 gardener, 2 hours
Nigella love-in-the-mist
August 16, 2011
- mostly removed the spent blooms in the Bridal Bed; deadheaded cosmos; turned the irrigation on for about 20 minutes because of all the sunshine that we've had lately and plants look a bit dry
1 gardener, 2.5 hours
- observations - should identify the bare spots in the garden that could be addressed by next year's students; the irrigation in the ring bed where the cosmos are cannot be manually turned on; our Magnolia Stellata died last week and was removed by Head Gardener; apples are ripening on several apple trees around the swing garden - bees and butterflies love our garden
Aug 10, 2011
- all 4 of us back in the Bridal Bed for the first time in quite a while - what had looked chlorotic for quite some time has finally recovered and the beds are very full and lush - most of the work at the moment is the typical care of a perennial bed: deadheading (cosmos), cutting back spent blooms, staking
- the irrigation is on a timer now, no longer manual however with the heat of the last 2 weeks, the settings probably need to be adjusted as the bed did appear dry
4 people 10 hours
July 27, Aug 3, 2011
- student break!!
July 20, 2011
- my week to do the watering in the gardens - at the end of the day I did 1/2 hour of deadheading cosmos in the Bridal Bed
July 13, 2011
- in the morning worked with the head gardener on centralizing the irrigation system in a number of beds, including the Bridal Bed
- an excavator was rented and he dug out a massive trail of trenches for burying the wire and pipe that linked the various control boxes - students filled in the trenches and tamped the gravel down - I was able to do some pipe cutting and glueing at one of the main boxes - I continued working on this in the afternoon to get as much irrigation experience as I could
July 6, 2011
- I was unable to get to school today as my car and my backup car both broke down - no gardening for me
June 29, 2011
- weeding, deadheading, staked the white hyacinth, planted about 16 dahlias in the empty spots, also baited for slugs, watered both gardens - we have irrigation but it has to be manually turned on
1 person, 3 hours
hyacinth
foxglove
columbine
June 22, 2011
- missed working in the Bridal bed because I was string trimming in the orchard - after 1 hour, I could not lift my water bottle to my mouth and could feel an internal vibration in my bones; 5 days later still experiencing intermittent numbness in some fingers
June 15, 2011
2 people, 5 hours, weeding
- fertilized the plants that we put in a couple of weeks ago because they look worse than when originally planted - nicotiana is yellow and the lobelia is red - fertilized with 15-15-15 slow release; the upper border was weeded by volunteers in the morning
- weeded around the Viburnum snowball which is peaking in bloom
- previously some hops had been planted by the swing with the intention that it would climb the trellis but that area is extremely wet - pools of water, so it didn't take
(J.D. photo)
June 2, 2011
completed annual plantings; put some in swing bed too and weeded as well
4 people 6 hours
June 1, 2011
We retrieved flats of our plants that we had growing in the poly houses: mattiola, nicotiana, lobeliea, cleome and planted then in our beds.
design: lobelia front 6" apart, nicotiana 10" apart in 2nd row; mattiola is just about finished but it was woven throughout the middle of the bed; cleome - looking a bit chlorotic and only about 6" high but with the expectation that it will grow to 4' was planted zigzag in the back row
4 people, 10 hours
May 25, 2011
I was away but the annual planting was completed.
May 24, 2011
annual planting: amended the top ring bed, pulled out Bellis perennis and Aubrieta and planted cosmos and grasses; 4 people 12 hours
May 18, 2011
weeding: fireweed, thistle, poa annua both in main beds and swing garden
deadheading: bellis along the upper border
irrigation: our garden has irrigation but is not connected to a timer so we manually turned it on to test the system; a couple of breaks will need to be repaired
2 people, 5 hours; very hot day today
The bellis in the top border. (J.D. photo)
The East Bed with spring growth. The spirea in background has
finished blooming, lavender in foreground. (J.D. photo)
May 11, 2011
weeding: popweed, fireweed, plantain, evening primrose, tansy
polyhouse: moved mattiola to cooler spot to begin hardening off prior to post May 24th planting
3 people, 7.5 hours
May 5, 2011
I was on watering duty this week and didn't work in our garden. However, did check on the mattiola which are about 8" tall in the polyhouse.
watering, polyhouses, entrance, urban garden: 2 people, 5 hours
April 27, 2011
I was mowing lawns on this torrential day of rain and didn't work in our garden.
mowing, public lawns: 2 people, 5 hours
April 20, 2011
weeding: popweed, fireweed, buttercup - 2 people, 3 hours each
pruning: coton-y-aster, did another round on the tree which was previously done in early spring; 2 people + teacher, 3 hours
April 12, 2011
weeding, weeding, weeding! We re-measured our garden for the design triangulation exercise, this time not in torrential rain. J. edged around the 2 tree circles and freshened up the bark mulch.
measuring: 3 people, 1 hour
weeding: 3 people, 4.5 hours
edging: 1 person, 2.5 hours
April 7, 2011
weeding, weeding, weeding! Plants are starting to poke through the layer of leaf mulch. J made a nice clean edge around the swing bed with the half moon spade.
weeding: 3 people, 7.5 hours
edging: 1 person, 2.5 hours
March 30, 2011
We checked in on our seedlings that are growing in the Polyhouse. The cleome, lobelia and mattiola were all pricked out as they are now a bit larger. We also did more weeding in our garden - the pop weed is going to seed. A few of the flowers in our bed were on the plant id list this week. Bellis perennis, English Daisy is currently blooming in the top border. Cynara cardunculus, Ornamental Artichoke is a herbaceous perennial which is now large enough to identify. Our teacher compared it to Greek corinthian columns. The third plant that we studied is Spiraea prunifolia, Bridal Wreath Spirea which has cascading blooms of small white flowers.
Mattiola
Lobelia on the right
March 23, 2011
Some weeds are coming up through the mulch, they are easier to pull out now. We pruned our hydrangeas: macrophylla (mop top) and quercifolia (oakleaf). Because of the rough winter this year, there was dieback, so we pruned back to a viable, fleshy bud on the macrophylla. Most buds are opposite each other, so the pruning cut is straight across. The quercifolia is grown for its oak leaf shaped foliage - very little is pruned on this. We didn't cut the tips just basically cleaned out any mulch that was in the centre to allow airflow and we cut a little bit of dead wood. This hydrangea should have creamy white flowers in late summer. The macrophylla is also a late summer bloomer. "Flowers in the summer, prune in spring"
The view looking back up the slope towards the swing; daffodils are just starting to come out.
Today turned out to be the most beautiful day that we have had so far working in the garden. We ended the day in our swing, overlooking the conservation lands.
March 16, 2011
I was away this day as we had some issues at home. I missed out on the trailer load of mulch that went onto the Swing Garden. The Swing Garden is further east of the Bridal Bed, it is fairly small but features can you guess - a nice swing! We're hoping to add a climbing vine for the trellis of the swing. We also have a dwarf apple tree in this bed. Plant markers have indicated that there is Dianthus too. Here is a partial shot of this bed.
March 9, 2011
We purchased some annual seeds for our garden: 2 Lobelias "White Fountains' and 'String of Pearls', Cleome 'Color Fountains', Jasmine Alata, Scented Nicotiana, Matthiola Night Scented Stock Giroflee, White Nigella 'Bridal Veil' and Persian Violet Nigella 'Love in a Mist'. We sowed the Cleome and the Matthiola because their germination periods are longer, about a month for Cleome and 6-8 weeks for the Matthiola.
March 2, 2011
Mother Nature struck last Wednesday by dumping at least a foot of snow on the garden. This is what it looked like. Fortunately we had started mulching our garden the day before and we completed half of it before it was buried by the snow.
Today, the snow had melted and we completed mulching the garden although we were threatened with gale force winds. We also did some pruning on the Cotoneaster planted across the path from the Bridal beds. The pruning was minimal; mostly the dead ends. We also decided our seed selections for the annuals: cleome, nicotiana, lobelia and 1 other.
February 22, 2011
I was reluctant to post this last week but they spoke today about posting videos online so I figured it would be alright. Last week we had a horrible disaster at the garden. There was a fire during the night and the tool shed was burnt to the ground. All of the tools that were used by volunteers and students were lost. The tool shed was connected to a large glass house, the student mudroom and the Head Gardener's office - all gone. All of the students lost the contents of their lockers which included rainwear and their own personal tools. I lost a couple of pairs of my dad's gloves, not worth anything but a sentimental loss. This week, we've got new tools and we're starting to function again as normal. Luckily there wasn't any major damage to the gardens.
Here is the class of 2011 posing in the remains of the mudroom - we're actually standing on our fallen lockers that contain the ashes of our belongings.
February 9, 2011
Another stunning day on the west coast - gardening outside all day today! The Bridal Bed looked a little tidier today after more weeding and raking. We attempted to identify more weeds today but they are tough to distinguish from the keepers. Buttercup, tansy and euphorbia were pointed out to us. Euphorbia you have to be careful of because it is photosensitive - if you get its sap on you and it reacts with the sun, you can get quite an irritation and/or burn. I got some on my arm last year and luckily was able to wash it off in time.
The bed will be shades of purple, mauve, blue, white and pink. Last year some yellow flowers were planted and they will be removed. We are going to compile a wish list of annuals that might be appropriate for the seed orders that are going in the next couple of weeks. We are also ordering a couple of trailers of leaf mulch for next week.
February 2, 2011
We started to familiarize ourselves with our adopted garden. Having seen photos of what it will be at its peak, the first task became figuring out what we've got. There were lots of plant tags either in the soil or lying nearby so a list was made of these. About 40 plants were gathered from this. Click on the list to get a more readable version.
Our instructors helped us identify a couple of common weeds: fireweed and pop weed that are prevalent in the bed. Working with stirrup hoes, rakes and hand tools, those were attacked.
Our instructors helped us identify a couple of common weeds: fireweed and pop weed that are prevalent in the bed. Working with stirrup hoes, rakes and hand tools, those were attacked.
Fireweed
Pop Weed
January 2011
As some of you know, I am now a student of horticulture at Pacific Horticulture College in Victoria. All of the students have adopted a garden at the college (also known as Glendale Gardens) that we will be tending for the year. I am part of a group of 4 that is looking after the Bridal Garden. I thought it might be interesting to post this online so that you can see our progress.
The Bridal Garden is the backdrop for a lot of the weddings that take place at Glendale. There are 2 beds - we've named them the East Bed and the West Bed. The East Bed is quite large, about 84' long on the lower border, 69' on the upper border and tapers from 20' wide to 6' wide. The West Bed is 45' long on the lower border, 42' long on the upper border and about 21' wide. Both beds slope downhill from an upper brick rotunda with a staircase placed in the middle. The brick rotunda is rimmed by a small bed which measures 93' long and 2' wide. This rim bed we are told will be planted with white cosmos and bellis. Almost all of the beds will be exposed to full sun. The West Bed may get a little bit more shade.
Here are some photos to give you more of an idea. It's hard to believe now but when this garden reaches its peak in August, you can't even see the soil for all of the flowers.
The East Bed.
continuation of the East Bed.
The West Bed.
