Tag Archives: trachelospermumjasminoides

Gardening Journal – Entry 6

Tuesday 22 September 2020

Today was another busy day spent hedge cutting down by the river Thames. We worked on cutting back the Trachelospermum jasminoides, which is attached to a wire frame above beds of lavender.

We used the long-arm hedgecutter to cut the jasmine back to the bed size beneath it, keeping the sides well trimmed. Unfortunately the T. jasminoides above two of the beds was in a poor stte, with a lot of yellowing leaves and plenty of dead branches. These were more tricky to work with, as there was less wiggle room when it came to finding the ‘lowest point’ to cut into. Finally, we cut the tops of the jasmine, nonetheless, as it was trained to climb towards an upwards slope, ever bed became more and more challenging to cut, without the use of a platform ladder.

Initially, I used the harness as it is meant to help take some of the weight off the machine and make it easier to manoeuvre. I did not find this to be the case, as the harness was too big for me and did not fit on my back. Instead, it pushed my head forwards when I was working and made it difficult to looking up a the plants without straining my neck. This is another in several examples of manual handling aids causing more issues. Eventually, I used the machine without the harness and – while this made it a lot tougher on my arms and shoulders – it helped my keep the lines (and my neck) straight.

We worked on these hedges for four hours straight and by the time we had finished, we were absolutely shattered. Bear in mind, this included lugging the machinery, cones, green bags, 150m of hose and the rest up and down two flights of stairs; hello manual handling hazard! Just when our arms were about to give out, we lugged more wheelbarrows about to cut the lavender under the jasmine. The lavender is on its last legs – and quite leggy at that – so we gave it a hard prune back. It usually isn’t advised to cut back into the woody part of the plant, however, it can be a way of extending its lifespan, when left unpruned for years.

This week so far has been very hard on our bodies and I’m full of aches and pains again, like I was when I first transitioned into this job! I’m not sure how a whole day of practicals at college is going to go tomorrow but I can’t wait to see our class and tutor again and work on a different site. In the meantime, keep my arms and shoulders in your prayers.

Gardening Journal – Entry 5

Monday 21 September 2020

After a lovely but busy weekend, waking up this morning was a bit of a struggle and I feel like the fogginess of the morning stuck with me throughout the day.

Today, we kicked off the week with a litter round. Seeing as the country feels days from a huge lockdown, people went ham with the public drinking last weekend and we collected two full bags of rubbish.

After our first break of the day, we went back to Greyfriars to finish cutting the low Euonymus japonicus hedge. I also worked on three Ilex topiary balls and managed not to make them look like eggs on their sides like last time!

This afternoon, we spent some time cutting six Taxus baccata hedges. When cutting Taxus, you tend to cut at an angle, creating a wider base and a tapered top. This allows more sunlight to reach the base of the hedge, encouraging vigorous growth and promoting overall health for the hedge. As the hedges were almost as tall as me, Laurence worked on the tops of the hedges using the long-arm hedgecutter and I cut the sides with the normal hedgecutter.

I’m starting to feel more confident cutting different species and heights of hedges and if the feeling in my arms right now is anything to go by, I’m going to be JACKED by the end of this apprenticeship.

Gardening Journal – Entry 4

Friday 18 September 2020

Fridays are always busy, even though I only work until 12:30pm. This is because on Friday I go to the launderette to do our washing and catch up with any work I’ve missed during the week. 

Today we had a discussion about COVID concerns for the team in the morning and then Laurence and I went on our litter round. Since our litter round was shortened a few months ago, it usually only takes about half an hour to complete. As such, we treated ourselves to a coffee before our tea break and looked through some of our plant idents. 

After tea, I worked with my supervisor on some of the raised lavender and Trachelospermum jasminoides beds. As we didn’t have much time, we worked on the lavender exclusively and will start cutting back the T. jasminoides next week. 

When left unpruned, lavender becomes leggy and woody and eventually, very little of the stems bear flowers. Usually, lavender has a lifespan of four to five years. In order to encourage the lavender to produce some new growth and extend its life, we cut back all the diseased, damaged and dead before pruning back to any new growth at the base, keeping any remaining stems to 5-10cm. Hopefully in a few months, we will start to see some fresh, new growth and we can wait a few more years before having to replace the plants. 

After I finished at work, I spent the afternoon wrapping up some of the assignments I didn’t have time to finish on Wednesday. This included my assignment on Health and Safety legislation and the costing of planting five different species of hedge. I particularly enjoyed working on the latter, as it was fun to work on a hypothetical gardening project.