japanese garden rotation - wk 5

Today is my last day in the Japanese Garden for this rotation and it's all systems go. All the water in the pond has been drained so that maintenance can be done and first on the list is the wheel house. The large wooden wheel hasn't been turning for a while and needs to be taken away for repairs. It takes about 8 of us to manoeuvre it out of it's holdings, through the garden bed (amazingly no plants were squashed!) and over to the fence to be lifted onto the truck. 

The large water wheel is heading off for repairs.

Next up on my jobs list is cutting back a large clump of  Miscanthus sinensis. This herbaceous perennial grows in clumps from underground rhizomes. This particular one is quite big so I start down in the pond behind the clump cutting everything back from that level before coming back around to the front. 

Miscanthus sinensis

New shoots have already begun to sprout from the base so I make sure to carefully leave those and only remove the long dried spikes before making a bundle and hauling them out to the cart. 

Interestingly when the storks are cut I notice 

they 'bleed' with a red ring around the outside. 

Seven bundles later the job is complete and it opens up the view of the pond considerably. Something to note for next time, always cut Miscanthus back keeping your arms covered, as I notice later in the day all the tiny cuts from the grass irritate my skin in a red stinging rash!

Nearly finished.

On the way back from lunch Jeremy and I take an leaf sample to Natalie (the garden's resident botanist) to identify. She thinks it is one of the yellow flowering Iris's (possibly Iris pseudacorus?) and note it is suffering from a bacterial disease of some kind.

Natalie giving us her verdict.

The strappy leaves of the Iris show dark black inky spotting typical of a bacterial disease. Jeremy will figure out how to treat this later once some research is done.

Bacterial spotting on these Iris leaves?

Next up on the jobs list is fertilising the water lily's (which Jeremy points out are from the Nymphaeaceae family). Now the pond is drained it is the perfect time to give them their annual feed. We use a pelleted form of fertiliser that looks like a small disc. These are inserted in the raised lily beds with a sharp spade.

Inserting the fertiliser discs into the Water Lily beds.

After this I do a quick weed around the edges of the pond as it is the perfect time to do it whilst the water is gone and we have easy access all the the hard to reach spots in the garden beds. There are not many weeds though as the area is regularly mulched but I manage to prise the odd baby Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) and some Winter Grass (Poa annua) out with my trowel making sure to catch all the roots so they don't spring back later. I use gloves and carry a bucket to put the weeds in so I can dispose of them in the correct greenwaste bin back at the storeroom. When we get back there, I also make sure to carefully hose off all the tools that are caked in pond mud in the wash down bay before placing back in the racks. As we are always reminded and rightly so - good hygiene is very important.

Clean tools ready to store back in the shed
at the end of the day.

Big thanks to Jeremy and Kath who have looked after me for this rotation. I've learnt a lot from them both and have loved hanging out in the Japanese Garden which is such a beautiful collection and about to burst into spring colour. My next rotation will actually be on the job as I've managed to score myself some work in my local nursery. I'm hoping this will help to rapidly increase my plant knowledge in a short space of time. It's a fantastic nursery and has a huge array of plants with a high turnover I'm sure to be very busy in the next few months. I will post some pics and details soon.