Last Day Farewell

Beth, David, Bob, Drew, Noelia, John, and Sarah came out on my last day as Nursery Manager. They were nice enough to put together a little party with drink and food (we should have done this more often!). Park staff also dropped by to say farewell: Laura, Rick and Molly.
Drew has stepped forward and will be continue to head up the Nursery. I wish him well; he brings a lot of energy and experience.
At this point, this blog is now “closed”, and will stay as a history of all the great help I’ve had along the way. (Click any pic to enlarge)

All Around Work Day

Beth, David, Bob, Drew, Bob and Sarah. Beth and David took care of moving around plants within Nursery so as to move all plants out from under polyfilm roof for this weather. Then they did cut backs on Toyon in median to encourage new growth that we might use for vegetative propagation in Jan/Feb.
Drew and Sarah put together tree/shrub cuttings for walnut (across the street), sycamore, mule fat and false indigo (hiked up Laurel). The weather is cool and wet, perfect for growing these plants.
David helped me straighten out the supply area. Thankless but needed. David then planted with Bob another 15 trees to provide screening along potty trail for new structure (if we actually do this). (Click any pic to enlarge)

"Non work day"

Beth, Noelia and David came by to work today on non-work day. Beth and Noelia trimmed the 4" pot stock inside and outside the nursery... about 1,000 pots. Also they trimmed the purple needlegrass. David took care of outside irrigation. We really have issue with lines being chewed up.
Pictured is Juncus Acutus, seed from along the Lorel trail. This plant gets to be about 1 meter high and wide (at least in the park). The plant does not droop, and retails itself erect, however without spines that hurt. Very showy.
Weather has been nice. We had about 1 inch of rain a few days ago (Ha! You La Nina folks!). (Click any pic to enlarge)

Bumping Up #6

Beth, David, Bob, Drew, John and Noelia came out to help today. Drew brought in 2 walnut trees he started from seed at home, pictured, which were collected Crystal Cove State Park (with permission). Very nice. Beth and Noelia trimmed current plants, repaired pots and then spared all potted plants with neem-oil based spray for fungal gnats and fungus.
David repaired our outside irrigation lines that had been gnawed on, the ¼” pipe that had not been covered. The running premise it is the rabbits, but we don’t know this for sure.
Bob and Drew bumped up the white monkey flower and the prostrate buckwheat into 1 gallon pots. They also cleaned up the area, as when Betty came by for a visit she nearly fell over “junk” twice.
The Argentine ants are out in force now that the weather has warmed up. The cool summer has even delayed the ant behavior to late summer, rather than early summer. We are using low-tech, environment friendly technique to encourage them to move from Nursery: we’re watering where they are nesting. You can see them moving their larva to higher ground and away from Nursery.
The weather was hot and dry, as it has been for the week and is forecast for the most of next week. Drew said he’d seen the hot weather coming in Fall, and Ranger Barbara has called off restoration with seed because of forecasted low rainfall (La Niňa). (Click any pic to enlarge)

Bumping Up #5

Beth, David, Sarah, John and Noelia came out to help today (yes, …. again!). We spent they day undoing all the preparations for hot summer weather (when is summer anyway?!) and the effects of the cool weather. Beth, Sarah and Noelia trimmed the potted plants, while John did the tree/shrubs. Fungal gnats are a real problem as irrigation was set for hotter weather and we had put up shade-cloth siding , which cut the air flow. So we sprayed them with neem oil for gnats, larvae and fungus. We then took those plants that failed, and saved potting soil mix to re-use; and finally separated pots to provide better aeration.
I lowered the times on misting table and potting irrigation table by about half. The weather forecast looks to warm up this coming weekend, but not that much. What we need to be careful for is hot dry winds The weather today was 64F when we started and partially overcast… perfect gardening weather.
David continued putting out plants and maintaining our outside irrigation. It really looks nice. Extending this area will be our next project.
The vegetative propagation went very well this year. Some important lessons learned were: 1) collect plant material same day, 2) do flats by single species, 3) bump up when that flat is ready. So our next set will be in the Feb 2011 time frame. We’ll break plant days into 2 sections: collection and flat preparation. (Click any pic to enlarge)

Bumping Up #4

Beth, David, Sarah, John and Noelia came out to help today. Noelia cared for the outside plants: trimming grass down and trimming and spraying rose. Beth cared for the plants inside the Nursery: trimming and spraying. The cool weather this summer seems to bring on fungal gnats and powdery mildew.
Sarah and John bumped up Juncus and Dudleya. John was official potting soil mixer. The new large cart, pictured, can hold a full bag of TOLN potting soil for mixing and easily moved up to potting area: total weight about 160 lbs.
I moved the irrigation for the outside Nursery plants to their own valve. David connected up the outside irrigation lines, and we can drain and test this week, after the valve changes sit for 24 hours for the glue to dry.
All in all it was a pretty morning. We have gone weeks without deer mice getting into our storage chests, which saves on damaged goods and general health. (Click any pic to enlarge)

Bumping Up #3

Beth, David, Drew, John, Noelia and Bob all came out and helped today. We finished bumping up of all of the herbaceous plant cuttings into 4” pots. There are still two flats of woodier cuttings, that will take longer. Today our total is around 700. Outside we have another 400. And over 100 tree/shrubs in 5 gallon containers.
Beth organized the folks to bump up the remaining monkey flower and bush sunflower. Then they bumped up lemonade berry to 5 gallon pots. And lastly they bumped up a few walnut and a sycamore tree to 5 gallon also.
Noelia worked on the temporary storage area irrigation by adding more sprinklers. David put together the framework irrigation to the outside plantings. Drew put up the shade cloth panel on the back side to cut the summer heat.
All in all it was a pretty day. (Click any pic to enlarge)