planting asparagus

A few weekends ago at the Tread Lightly festival, I picked up some asparagus plants from Frog Hollow Nursery and today my Sunday afternoon project is to plant them. I have two smallish beds at the front of my veggie patch that are reserved for perennials. The other bed has blueberries, so this one is perfect for my new asparagus patch. The soil is well drained and slightly acid so if I can get some compost and manure into it, it should be perfect for growing this tasty member of the Liliaceae family.

I consult my favourite veggie gardening book "Self -Sustainable Gardener" by John Seymour and it advises the best thing to do, to prepare the bed properly, is to single dig.

Some offerings from the ponies.

I haven't done this before so here goes. Seeing as this is a semi permanent crop it makes sense to put the hard effort into the soil now as I won't be able to dig again once planted. I pick up half a barrow load of horse manure from the paddock and get two bags of blended and composted manure to add to it (sorry Marcus my compost is not ready yet!) I can fit 4 trenches in my space, with 3 plants in each row for a total of 12 plants.

I have chosen two varieties that were recommended to me by the nice lady from Frog Hollow that are their favourites, apparently delicious and noteworthy. They are "Mary Washington" and "Connovers Colossal".

Three rows done - one to go.

I dig a trench to a spades depth and put the top soil to the side of the trench. I take a small selection of soil from about 12cm depth to do a soil test and set it aside to dry out as the test recommends. I will come back to this later. Next I fill the bottom of the trench with some horse manure. On top of this I add some composted manure and mix some of the soil into this. Finally I add a scoop of SEAMUNGUS pelleted seaweed fertiliser, as I read that Asparagus do well with a seaweed mulch so figure they should like this as a feeder as well and winter is the time for feeding them. Finally I replace all the top soil and hoe it into a nice raised row ready for planting.

Removing all the last of the weed runners.

Last summer I grew Zucchini in this bed and when they finished I made sure to weed the bed thoroughly and mulch it. There is only the odd weed left and as I dig, I make sure to remove any runners I come across. John Seymour informs me that getting rid of any creeping weeds will be impossible once the asparagus roots are established and spread throughout the soil. Clearing the bed first as thoroughly as possible and mulching heavily will be my best weed suppressant. 

A strong root system.

After I repeat this process three more times I have four nice raised rows to plant into and I make quick work of easing the plants into their new permanent positions, 30-40cm apart. Now is a good time to go back to my dried soil and complete the soil test. If I need to adjust the soil (with lime for example) it will need to be applied next and watered in.

I read in the "Self Sufficient Gardener" that ideal conditions for asparagus are as follows: 

"The plant flourishes in a light well-drained loam and it will grow well in sandy land that has been well mucked and composted and not allowed to dry out. The soil should have a pH of 6.5, which may mean you have to add lime." 

When I do the colour i-metric test I'm really happy to see that it shows up as a pH of 6.5 (slightly acid) on the colour chart. Well - to my eye anyway- as there are quite a few orange shades on the chart, but I think that one definitely matches best! So all being interpreted correctly this means I shouldn't have to add lime or anything else to adjust the pH. Although it would have been great to be able to do a soil meter test as well to compare but I haven't splashed out for one of these yet.

6.5 pH is ideal for asparagus.

Now it's time to lay the drippers back down, give the plants a soak and follow John Seymour's second piece of advice:

"Asparagus benefits enormously from heavy mulching. I like to mulch with seaweed, but otherwise mulch with any organic material which is non acid. Don't hoe to deeply otherwise you'll damage the asparagus roots. Your mulch is the best weed suppressor."

I have a big bag of sugar cane mulch left over from summer (no weed seeds - bonus) so lay this on thickly and use some old straw in the trenches between the rows. I will top this up as it breaks down to keep it nice and thick.

The finished job.

I'm pleased with my efforts for today and all that's left now is a two year wait till we can feast!

hot composting - wk 10

Today's prac is everything compost. We head over to the Pottager garden and check out a 'hot compost' that was built there as a display. Marcus tells us about the three different types of composting - cold (add to/build it slowly and it will break down gradually over many months, very slow however and does not heat up sufficiently to pasteurise weed seeds) hot or thermophyllic (build it all at once and when the temperature heats up (ideally between 50-60 degrees), turn at regular intervals to evenly break down materials, then allow to cool and use, the fastest process that is used commercially and kills all the weed seeds, pests and diseases) and lastly compost tea (add ingredients to water to break down into a compost juice, smelly!)

When we look inside this small home garden form of a hot compost we are impressed to see how quickly the materials have broken down even though this pile has not been turned yet.

Well on the way to useful compost!

However now it's time for us to learn how to build a new one from scratch and all we need to start us off is two star pickets to stabilise the pile and a rectangle marked out on the ground as a guide.

Hot composting is basically adding layers of Carbon and Nitrogen material in a ratio of 30:1 to heat up, pasteurise and perform rapid breakdown of materials to recycle back into the soil and enable an ideal "closed system" in your garden. 

The Carbon materials are your dry materials such as straw, hay, paper, chipped small branches, leaf litter etc... and the Nitrogenous materials are your wet materials such as grass clippings, manure, vegetable scraps, weeds and plant materials etc... 

Marcus starts our new compost off with a layer of spent grass hay. This is usually the rain damaged hay cut in summer that can be purchased for around $2 a bale and is a fantastic low cost carbon ingredient. I have heaps of these bales left over at the end of each season but I originally resisted using my hay scraps on the compost because of the grass seeds. However I learn now I have only ever been "cold" composting and adding gradually to a pile that slowly (and painfully) breaks down over a very long time. However using a hot compost technique correctly will insure the pile will heat up to the optimal 50-60 degrees and this is sufficient to kill weed seeds off whilst still maintaining the beneficial organisms that help break down the materials. Anything hotter than 70 degrees however is too hot and may kill the good as well as the bad. Turning the pile at regular intervals will temporarily cool the pile and keep it at the optimal temperature as well as ensuring an even breakdown of materials.

As we start with the layers Marcus points out how important it is to keep the sides of the rectangle neat and even and water the pile as you go to activate the breaking down process. Ideally all the hay should be soaked in water before building the pile but hosing as we go will work fine for now.

After our first layer is complete we add rock dust and chicken manure pellets to activate the heap.

Finally comes our wet or green layer and today we are using Hippeastrum leaf cuttings fresh from the nursery.We make sure to take these right to the edges and keep everything as evenly distributed across the layers as possible.

Everyone doing a great job of adding the layers and watering in.

Phillipa paying homage to the compost gods.

That's it! Now we just repeat these layers until we have a sufficiently sized pile or our materials run out!

A group of us continue to build up the new pile while the rest of us turn our attention back to the existing pile and get ready to give it it's first turn!

This is done by basically pulling it apart very carefully and separating all the large chunks as best as we can and rebuilding it back up again from scratch. Julie, Phillipa, Michael and I are up for the task and get into it. Whilst we pull the half broken down materials apart we come across some white fungusy looking spores in the material that Marcus explains are the beneficial "Actinomycetes" fungal bacteria that aid in the breakdown. It's very important to use gloves and not breath this material in when handling any compost as it can be dangerous to get these spores in your airways.

The white specks are the beneficial Actinomycetes fungal bacteria.

With all the material pulled apart we can now start to rebuild the pile again, making sure to put the outer (less broken up) layers on the inside as we go. Keeping the sides nice and straight is very important and we do a reasonable job although the pile does lean in slightly as we get higher!

Hard at work rebuilding the new pile.

Our finished efforts - Not bad I think!

The completed old and new piles look great and we make sure to rake up and wash down thoroughly afterwards to finish up. It will be great to visit the piles in a few weeks to see how quickly they are progressing into lovely usable compost.

A couple of days later back at Govt House for my rotation day, I ask Mick to show me their composting system as I know they do it on a large scale here and use a tractor to turn it - just as we would like to do on our property to make enough compost for our big garden plans! 

The compost piles in the paddock at Govt House.
This one is cooking and the one on the right is cooked and ready for use.

Turning the pile at Govt House and learning the controls.

At home we have everything at our fingertips for fantastic large scale hot composting. We have two horses to supply us with regular manure. We have grass clippings all year round and spent/old hay from cleaning out the hay shed each year. We plan to soon have a chicken scratching pen to throw our kitchen scraps into and clean out regularly when they have sufficiently been broken down and conveniently pecked into small pieces for us, as well as the chicken manure mixed with straw when we clean out the hen house. Add to this all our green weeding materials and chipped plant cuttings from the garden we should have quite a huge amount of materials we can make a lovely large scale compost with to put right back on the garden and vege patch.

You can see behind the tractor the newest pile that is still to be built.
 Mainly grass cuttings and leaf litter at this stage.

And now I know how to build and turn the pile....... all we need is a tractor....

govt house rotation - wk 5

When I first saw the huge picking flower garden here at Govt House, I expressed my interest in growing cut flowers and arranging them, so today Steve has kindly organised a fantastic opportunity for me to help out in the house with the Govt House florist for the morning! Chris is an experienced florist with 12 years experience and he is more than happy for me to join him for which I am so grateful and ridiculously excited! This will be the perfect opportunity for me delve into some creative work and observe which flowers cut well and last in a vase.


Chris checks the Asiatic liliums in this arrangement.

We start off with checking all the existing arrangements that were made up two days ago and bringing them down to the florist's room which is just past the kitchen in the bowels of the main house. Here Chris replaces the spent flowers and we do several runs up and down the stairs to cover all the arrangements. I pretend not to be totally awestruck by the beauty and grandeur of the house, which I have never seen inside before.

Replacing an arrangement in the drawing room.

Later on our task is to make a large arrangement that will sit in the ballroom for a function that evening. I am now able to see Chris start an arrangement from scratch and observe his methods and techniques. We head outside into the garden to collect some new material and I spy some beautiful architectural crab apple branches that Chris agrees will look great. Back inside we get down to work. I help out with preparing the individual elements.


Last week I was photographing this Aucuba japonica for my assignment. This week I'm cutting it off the bush and stripping it back to reveal the beautiful red berries for the ballroom arrangement.

The crab apple winter branches give a beautiful and architectural effect.

As Chris works I ask lots of questions and learn so much about the different techniques he uses to create a stunning large Constance Spry style arrangement like this. Using mainly things cut from the garden here such as Aucuba japonica, Choisya ternata, Kniphofia, Crab apples and variegated Cordyline but also supplementing with some wholesale flowers like the Orange and White Asiatic liliums and Chrysanthemums for good colour effect at this time of year. We both love the Brugmansia trumpet shaped flowers growing outside the florist's entrance door. Chris is not entirely sure how well they will last, but we decide to take the chance and he scorches them in hot water (to force any air bubbles out of the cut stem to enable the plant to drink more easily and last longer as a cut specimen) and adds them to the bottom of the arrangement to give it that 'wow' factor.


The finished arrangement in place on the ballroom plinth.

All in all it's been such an exciting day and Chris is more than happy for me to help out again, so we organise for me to meet him here the following week on my day off to get as much experience as I can.

The ballroom is quite stunning and even a huge arrangement such as this can get lost in the grandeur of the room.

The following week when I arrive for a full day helping Chris once more I'm very excited to find we are replacing all the arrangements from scratch in the house and Chris is happy for me to have a go with some arrangements myself! So excited I start on the first one which is to go on the hallway sideboard beneath a huge oil painting of Queen Elizabeth.

I start off (relying only on my book floristry knowledge and a wing and a prayer) by inserting into the chicken wire three (always use odd numbers) muted burgundy-green Cordyline for height, then I add branches of red Pyracanthus berries stripped of their leaves and some Camellia foliage in to bulk it out before starting to add some flowers. I love Hydrangeas especially the muted 'antique' colours the flowers go when left on the bush late in the season so these are the next to add, as there are plenty in the garden right now. Generally a good rule is the larger the flower head the lower down in the arrangement it should go for balance.  Sticking to a reds, pinks and yellows scheme I add some Proteas, Roses, and Alstromeria to finish it off. Chris then helps me finesse the arrangement by showing me how to add more depth, setting some more flowers at different heights and depths to give each flower it's own 'space' and not have everything on a similar level. But all in all, he is very impressed with my first ever attempt. I am beside myself with excitement placing it on the huge antique side table, grinning like a Cheshire cat from ear to ear.

My first ever arrangement!

Chris has so much plant and flower knowledge, I feel so appreciative of this experience and how generously and happily he is sharing it with me. Apart from asking him about each individual
flower and how it should be prepared for the vase, I make sure to ask him about broader things like the qualities of a good and bad floristry. Practices such as only ever using fresh good quality flowers, keeping your workspace clean, working quickly, keeping the vases meticulously clean & always replacing with fresh water are amongst the things he holds in high regard.


Chris hard at work on a new arrangement for the drawing room.

My next arrangement is to sit in an alcove in the hallway that houses a beautiful grand piano. This one should be able to be seen from all sides or 'in the round'. I choose a white, yellow and lime green colour palette this time and use again variegated Cordyline to start it off. Next large white Liliums, a huge stork of Canna, Choisya and beautiful delicate Acacia foliage that is about to burst into flower so needs to be scorched first. Green Hydrangeas, white and yellow fluffy carnations and ferns complete the picture. Chris is very happy and impressed, I have managed to learn from the first arrangement and give this one more depth and balance.

My second arrangement sits next to a grand piano.

Next on the list are two small low vases for the drawing room tables. These should match and compliment the other arrangements in the room with a similar mix of flowers. I use some lemon tulips staked in a metal pincushion in the bottom of the vase as the centre and build around it with a mix of colourful yellow and orange flowers set against dark green foliage. The fun addition is a twig of persimmons from the pair of trees in the garden, abundant with the ripe fruit at the moment. Chris gets me to try one - really delicious! 

The drawing room tables hold both these sweet 'fruity' bowls .

Next on the list for me is a medium size arrangement for a side table just outside the drawing room. As it's my last one for today (and probably ever!) I want to get a bit creative and make something a bit different to the last ones. After getting back from another raid in the garden (I feel like the queen's police are going to jump out from behind a bush and arrest me for carrying secateurs and an armful of foliage at any moment!) I decide to feature some stunning paper daisy like flowers (not quite sure what these are called?) plucked from the native section of the garden. They are a beautiful mix of reds, creams and pinks. I also steal some dark red roses from the rose garden as I want them to match with some immature burgundy Canna leaves I find at the base of a huge plant. I just love ferns in flower arrangements too and find some beautiful bright green ones in the native garden to add. When it's finished, the only thing I wish I could replace is the bright pink Hydrangeas with darker more burgundy/green toned ones but it's all about using up what we have and not taking too long in the process. Chris is more than pleased so that's all that matters.

My last arrangement for the day.

So my time is sadly up. Huge thanks to Chris and apologies for not being a very good company when I was making the arrangements, I was concentrating so hard I couldn't finish a sentence properly! Despite this, I think he is happy with my efforts and appreciative of the help which is fantastic. I've learnt so much about cut flowers and arranging them over both days that I don't think I'll forget this experience for some time.

workplace communications - wk 9

This morning we have the lovely Josie taking us for the unit 'Workplace Communications'. This unit could probably sit in most curriculum, for any course, as it is clearly a very important skill to bring to your working environment. With respect to Horticulture where you can be dealing with machinery and dangerous chemicals as well as being in regular contact with the public (either in a public botanic garden or at a nursery) how well, or not well, you communicate becomes even more important.



Josie asks us to list all the different forms of communication we use.

I feel reasonably confident with my communication skills, probably due to my job and perhaps also my upbringing. Because I currently work in television and in a high pressure deadline type of work environment, I have had to develop very good communication skills over the years in order to do my job well so I am very thankful for that. My mum and gran would probably both testify in a court of law that I was a somewhat chatty, overly organised, tending towards bossy child with a wide vocabulary who liked to keep my teddy's and dolls in line at all times. Following this up with aspirations to be a famous actress and plenty of drama lessons probably added fuel to the fire. (Of course I've clearly blossomed out of that into being a nearly normal person now right?!) 

Philippa regales some of her interesting communication experiences from her diverse work situations.

Anyway....... after determining all the different forms of communication currently available, from non-verbal all the way through to twitter (or twatter as Pav likes to call it!), Josie brought out some fun exercises for us to test our skills (or lack of them!) I was teamed up with Julie and blindfolded for the first test which was to build a small Lego man tower from some different coloured blocks using Julie's voice and commands as a guide. We did this really fast and finished first as Julie is very good at giving instructions  - plus I seem to spend most of my time at home building Lego masterpieces with my kids at the moment, so we really should have been handicapped for this one!



My partner Julie does very well with the communication challenge.

Next it is Julie's turn to be blindfolded and my turn to talk her through it. This time she has to draw a shape on paper and we also do this in record time after a little shaky start that involved me gesticulating some of my commands with hand gestures (not so good for a blindfolded person!) Looking around the room it highlighted to me how differently people see the same things and communicate them in such different ways. Some perhaps more productive or streamlined than others but all of them achieving the end result. Good communication really is a strong skill to have and be able to use effectively in your work environment.

Big thanks to Josie for a fun, exciting, well structured lesson plan that made this unplantlike subject very interesting and enjoyable :)

treating pests and diseases - wk 8

Today in 'Recognising Pests and Diseases' the focus is learning about Anthropoda and their various classes. One of which is insects (class Insecta)

Marcus runs us through the characteristic features for each class. For example an Insect is characterised by having three separate parts to it's body - head, thorax and abdomen, a pair of antennae, three sets of legs and wings (one or two) or the absence of wings.

The three separate parts to an insect.

As Marcus points out - analysing and determining which pest or disease is that? is going to be a huge part of working in this industry as solutions to these problems are one of the most common requests for a horticulturalist.  Essentially...... "Which pest did this?" and "What disease has caused that?" will be the common theme. So with this in mind and also quite a healthy interest in this area I am starting to steadily build up my knowledge and reading.

A less than happy Viburnum tinus.

A good example this week occurred on my rotation day at Govt. house. I noticed a freestanding Viburnum tinus in the middle of a section of lawn looking particularly unhealthy, especially in one area that had quite a bit of dieback. After asking "what's wrong with this? we began searching for the culprits. Three things showed up quite obviously. The first was sooty mould all over the leaves which straightway made us think 'sapsucker'. The second was very small black thrips on the underside of the leaves. So our sapsucker was discovered! The last thing was a white creature living near the tip that Mick identifies as a woolly aphid. Not having heard of these before, I decide to look them up in my shiny & newly purchased "What Pest and Disease is That?" reference book. However woolly aphids are described as purply black so I quickly realise our white bug is not that. Searching through the only thing I think matches is a Mealy Bug - the oval shape of it's body and similar symptoms seem to match.


Our mystery white bug near the tip and two black thrips on the underside of the next leaf.

Mealy bugs are also sap suckers who have the ability to reproduce very well and can have multiple generations in one year! I read up on the main damage they cause to plants which is by feeding on the leaves either by direct removal of plant fluids and nutrients, and/or by the excretion of toxic salivary compounds into the plant tissue. They can be 'farmed' and given protection by ants who love to feed on the excreted honeydew they produce (and amazingly- can actually tickle their tummy to produce it on cue!) The honeydew then attracts the sooty mould which hinders the plants ability to photosynthesize, causing dieback. Parasitic wasps and ladybird beetles are an excellent biological control of Mealy Bugs.


Black sooty mould.



After checking with Marcus the next week, he confirms it is a Long Tailed Mealy Bug but feels the majority of the dieback damage will have been caused by the thrip and that is the area to focus on treating.

So......I research the best treatment for a Thrip invasion to find these suggestions:

• Remove diseased and dead growth as the thrips nest in these.
• They also nest in the dry soil and lay eggs in the ground so watering the plant heavily and keeping it thickly mulched with an organic compost will deter their nesting habits.
• Blast the plant with water in the early morning to wash off as many as possible. Do this for three continuous days.
• Spray with a homemade garlic or chili soap targeting underneath the leaves.
• Cultivate the soil to a depth of 6cm in Autumn and again in early Spring to deter them.
• Remove any affected flowers and buds but don't compost them.
• Concentrate on making the soil and plant as healthy as possible. Healthy plants are the most resistant to attack.
• Encourage ladybirds or lacewings into your garden.

A chemical solution is:

• Spray with Pyrethrum if unable to control with above methods.

The following week at Government House I spy some fungal looking mould on a leaf and Mick explains it is called downy mildew. This is a group of fungal diseases that is common in cool wet weather. Fungal spores are spread on the wind and through the soil up onto the plant. Commonly seen in plants growing on vines such as grapes and peas.

Downy Mildew



Prevention and treatment includes:

• Avoid overhead irrigation.
• Remove affected leaves as soon as possible.
• Improve air circulation around the plant.
• Spray with a seaweed based product to build vigor in the plant.
• Mulch to act as a barrier and help restrict the fungal spores spreading from the soil to the plant.
• Dispose of fallen leaves and prunings.

I noticed the area where the infected plant is at Govt. House does currently receive overhead watering so perhaps this is something simple that could be altered to prevent the infection getting worse or spreading.

Hmmm..... more interesting nasties will no doubt follow in weeks to come!

govt. house rotation - wk 4

Today at Govt house is all about operating different machinery along with lots of Plant I.D. thrown in along the way. In the morning I was teamed up with Russell who manages the garden beds and areas around the house. As we did some clearing and cutting back in the beds he was fantastic at testing me on plant ID and giving me opportunities to figure out the names of all the different plants around us. 

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This Papaver poppy flower was huge! Bigger than my hand.

 I was actually surprised how many I did know or could perhaps work out and in some cases start to make educated guesses based on the similarities of the genus within the same family. I'm really quite loving Plant ID, being someone who likes to memorise things and has a reasonably good memory (at least before I had kids anyway!)


Brugmansia (Angel's Trumpet) in the front bed.



Anyway there are still plenty I didn't know of and one of the quite impressive ones we come across is a tall shrub/small tree called Brugmansia (previously known as Daytura) from South America. It's common name is Angel's Trumpet, of course referring to the large pendulous trumpet-shaped flowers. They can come in white, yellow, pink, orange or red cultivars and hybrids. Flowers can be single or double. Interestingly all parts of Brugmansia plants contain dangerous levels of poison and may be toxic or fatal if ingested by humans or animals, including livestock and pets! So not one to toss up in a salad.







As we continue through the garden there is another beautiful shrub that takes my eye, flowering prolifically and cheerfully at this time of year. Russell informs me the genus is Impatiens but is not sure of the species. When I go to look it up I find out this is a genus with up to 1000 species so I might be searching for a while. Perhaps a better idea is to ask Steve or Marcus.



A pretty form of Impatiens.



The Tree Dahlia's look fantastic at the moment.



Next we go on to do a quick division exercise of some clumping perennial Helianthus (sunflower). We simply dig up a large section, work out how many sections we are going to divide it into and get a nice sharp spade to do the work. Once separated the Helianthus is shared out to the other sections of the garden with a now much smaller piece planted back in the same hole.



The Helianthus clump we are going to divide.

After morning tea, Tara gives Mel (a polytec student) and myself a quick run through on how to operate a rotary hoe in the veggie patch. We go through all the pre-start checks for the rotary hoe including checking fuel (this one uses unleaded fuel for its 4 stroke engine), oil levels, then disengaging the spark plug and lifting the safety flap at the back to check the tines are OK and will rotate freely. A general look over the whole machine to establish it is in working order, then Tara explains the different levers and controls. I make sure to ask about the correct PPE which in this case are safety boots, earmuffs and gloves if required.

Tara running us through the pre-start check and controls.



My first go at a line up the bed next to Tara's lovely straight efforts looks like I've had at least three bottles of wine before attempting! In my defence the soil is very deep and soft and because we are on a slope the hoe really wants to steer down the hill. However I figure out that a bit firmer handling and using the steering levers will help keep me on the straight and narrow. After a couple of good runs I feel I'm getting the hang of the controls and practice turning and reversing to make sure I feel completely comfortable with manoeuvring it around the bed. Tara is happy so it's onto the next task......



My turn with the rotary hoe.



........which is pruning! A lovely old crab apple tree in Russell's section has seen better days so our next task is to start removing it piece by piece. A simply perfect candidate to teach me about pruning with an extendable arm pruning saw (no pressure to get it right first time as it's going anyway!)



Removing the old crab apple branch by branch.



We do several straight through cuts that tear the underside of the bark down the tree, just as an example of what not to do! The tearing of the bark, caused by the weight of the branch, is of course undesirable, so Russell teaches me how to avoid this by doing an undercut first. The top cut is then half an inch or so back from this and the weight of the tree snaps it evenly off half way through with no tearing. 

I practice this over and over as I'm keen to get it just right, with Russell helpfully correcting and adjusting my cutting angles as we go. Finally we get a text book one to photograph and I feel very confident about the technique now. This is of course only the first cut, so must be now followed up with the second cut to make it flat, so it can heal over nicely. Important points for good pruning (so the tree can heal well and not become a point to introduce infection or rot) include not cutting too close or too far away, leaving the right amount of room for a healing collar to form around the cut area. Also getting the angle the same as the branch you are cutting back to. All in all this has been a really good learning exercise. Although my heart did skip a small beat when Steve calls out "NO - not that tree!" for a bit of a giggle when walking past!

A perfect clean cut!

After lunch Steve and I head off to initiate me with a hedge trimmer. I have visions of a lovely soft box hedge with a few wayward growing tips to learn on, but quickly find out mine is going to be a baptism of fire (or thorns!) as we head down to a long beast of a Crataegus hedge in the lower paddock that hasn't had a haircut for a 2 years!

Before......

Pre-start for the hedge trimmer is a fuel check (2 stroke so a separate oil check not needed as it is mixed with the fuel), clean free lubricated cutting teeth (we apply a quick spray of WD40), switched on and throttle engaged before starting up. PPE is definitely earmuffs, protective glasses (although now I've done it I would say a face shield is maybe an even better choice as it does kick up a few thorns), safety boots so you don't trim your toes off as well and for this hedge in particular - good thick gloves! Steve runs through the start up and controls which are very simple and I get started. After explaining the technique Steve watches my first cut and corrects me. I was trying to keep a straight back and half squat down to get to the bottom edge but this is unnecessary and Steve explains I should be able to do it by simply lowering and raising my arms. I quickly get the idea and off we go. Steve is cutting the top and I am doing the sides, making sure to taper out slightly at the bottom which is the correct technique for cutting any hedge to allow light to get to the bottom to prevent dieback.



Like a hot knife through butter.

As I get into it, despite the thorns, I am really enjoying myself! The hedge trimmer doesn't feel as heavy as I thought it would be and it cuts so well and handles even the thickest of branches. As I go I build in confidence with my lines (being the very particular, attention to detail type person that I am!) Further on when we get to a thick section of hedge that is growing out towards the sun, Steve demonstrates how much it needs to be cut back which involves me hacking very confidently into the deeper thicker wood. The final job is to clear the prunings off the top and rake them out from under the hedge and tidy up any straggly pieces at the bottom of the hedge that may have been missed. Crataegus thorns are long and super strong and as Steve points out can actually punch through tractor tyres so we diligently rake the prunings off the drive as carefully as possible to avoid yet another puncture!



......After

All in all another super learning day in this garden. Thanks to Russell, Steve and Tara for taking the time to give me more great learning experiences. I take my soon to be aching forearms home with a big smile on my face once more.