City Gardener

When cleaning my home or work space  doing the drains  is the dirtiest chore on the list. Almost all of the dirt and grime funnels down through the drain. If the drain is clogged, civilization as we know it, stops.  Today my task was to clean window sills and ...drains. The University of Minnesota Conservatory Greenhouse, where I've been volunteering, continues its summer push to deep clean the surfaces and plants to help keep them free of pests and diseases. Integral to a thorough job of cleaning includes lifting the drain grates and flushing out the accumulated soil and organic muck (dead leaves, seeds, etc.). Hiding out of sight under the grates, the muck is potentially a fertile reservoir of pest eggs and bacteria.  There were approximately a dozen drains in the four greenhouses of the Conservatory. Each drain consists of a heavy cast cast-iron basket covered by a round iron grill. I lifted, brushed, and washed each component. While I was working from drain to dr...

I can't begin to imagine the number of times I've encountered a complicated problem and then search for a complicated solution, while a simple solution would have been just as good. Today at the University of Minnesota Conservatory, where I volunteer, the greenhouse staff are continuing their push to treat and restore plants which have become threatened by pests. I was assigned the task of using a sharp spray of water from a hose to knock pests off from the leaves of plants. It is a simple physical means of control. No chemical poisons, repellents, or expensive predators are involved. While I walked around the greenhouse looking for infested plants to douse, I spotted this blooming gem. It has the genus name Hippeastrum, and is in the same family as the common amaryllis plant. Hippeastrum, in the same family, Amaryllidaceae, as the common amaryllis plant A sharp spray of water was used to knock of scale and mealybug insects from the leaves of two dozen plants. While on the t...

It is said the work of a gardener is never finished. This old dictum certainly applies to the greenhouse of the University of Minnesota Conservatory, where I've been volunteering. Since space in the greenhouse is limited, and the number of plant species large - 3000 or so - there is the necessity of keeping plants at a size able to fit the space. Cutting and tying the plants to control their growth is a bit similar to surgery in the sense that some parts get cut off, and some parts get tied back. Today, one of my tasks was prepare all the shears and handsaws to be sent out for professional sharpening. The blades all had to be scrubbed free of debris and sticky sap, then wiped with alcohol to disinfect the surfaces. The tools will be delivered to a local shop where garden implements are sharpened. Another task was to control the direction of growth of a couple of small trees in the desert room of the greenhouse. These small trees (the frankincense tree Boswellia sacra, and Moringa p...