New responsibilites

Thursday 3rd Jan 2013
Weather: Wonderfully dry and warm, temperature 10°C throughout the day with hints of sun and even a beautiful sunset in that wintery watery kind of way.

The Hot House

I was given my first proper responsibilities today, and am to look after the hothouse that has cuttings and tender perennials for our own gardening stock like Impatiens bicaudata, begonias, and the cool house - a new greenhouse built recently that houses ferns, cacti & succulents. I will be consulting closely with deputy head gardener Siew Lee who has been looking after the hothouse. We did some clearing of dead leaves & taking out dahlias that had formed tubers from cuttings to store in the cellar, and rearranged the plants to help make it easier to look after them, grouping plants with similar needs together. Here I begin familiarising myself more with the plants there and to hone my sensitivity to their needs.

One of the keys to successfully looking after greenhouse plants is getting the watering right especially in the hot house. This is easier than it sounds, there are lots of factors to consider - the different needs of different plants, the human factor, the cutting heat bench itself is hotter on one side than the other & is dependent on how the cuttings are done (e.g. a small pot with a lot of cuttings can need more water - it does help you to understand how best to do things throughout the whole process).

In the High Garden....
I carried on with clearing dead leaves, weeding. Split and replanted some Leucanthemum x superbum (aka Shasta daisies), and rearranged or relieved over congested clumps of Mysotis, Anthriscus sylvestris  (aka Cow Parsley), Lychnis coronaria etc. Then started to spread mushroom compost thinly over the surface of the whole bed and gently tickle it in.