Mulching garden bed 2

23-3-09

Activities: Today a few of us worked on garden bed 2. Our main objective was to put a layer of mulch over the entire bed. The bed was gently raked before the mulch was applied. Also prior to this a final going over to remove any remaining twitch rope was done.

Mike brought the truck down to the bed with approx 3 cubic metres of mulch. We sifted out any of the big particles and rubish that may have been in the mulch. It was then applied to the top of the bed, approx 3cm deep. It was applied by gently raking it on, after it was dumped into piles with a wheel barrow.

OH&S:

Tools: Wheel barrow, spade, sifter, rake

PPE. Long sleeve clothes, steel caps, hat, gloves

Garden revamp.

18-03-09

Activities: Today our group removed some grass to extend garden bed 3. Cameron showed us a good technique for removing small sections of grass with a pick and shovel. Then we tried to remove as much soil off the grass as we could before putting it on the mulch heap.

PPE: Long sleeve clothes, hat, saftey glasses, steel caps, gloves.

OH&S: Pick, muscular, RSI.

Tools: Wheel barrow, pick, shovel, rake, broom.

Soil testing

17-03-09
Activities: In the afternoon we did some soil testing with digital pH meters. The soil tested was from the 3 garden beds we had been working on.

This involved mixing 100ml 0f distilled water with 20 grams of soil. Then placing a calibrated PH meter into the solution to get a soil reading.

Results for the 1:5 method/meter were as follows.

Bed 1. 15cm depth 6.5pH, 5cm depth 6.9pH (same location)

Bed 2. 6.7 pH depth 15cm, 6.3pH depth 15cm, 5.9pH, depth 15cm. (taken from 3 locations)

Bed 3. 6.4 pH depth 15cm, 7.3pH depth 15cm. (taken from 2 locations)

PPE:

Tools: Hanna pH meter, beaker, distilled water, calibrating solution, scales.

OH&S:

Garden bed 1 revamp

17-03-09


Activities: Today we continued on in the garden beds. Our group was still in charge of bed 1 and it was decided that we would remove any existing roots and a small amount of Rope Twitch.

The best technique for this as Cameron pointed out was to gently loosen the top soil with a spade. Next we went over the same area with a pitch fork, sifting out the roots.

PPE: Long sleeve clothes, steel caps, hat, gloves, saftey glasses.

OH&S: Muscular, insects, pitch fork.

Tools: Pitch fork, spade.

Replanting in nursery.

11-03-09
Activities: We took 3 different plants out of the garden beds and decided to repot them. (will get their names). We mixed up a new batch of potting mix. Pots of around size 6-7 were used. They were filled about half way and the plants were put in. Then the rest if the mix was placed in but not pressed down. A gap of about 2 cm was left on top. We did about 25 new pots all up. They were then watered and placed in the nursery outside.
PPE: Face mask, gloves.
Tools: Cement mixer, ext lead, bucket, watering can.
OH&S: Cement mixer, fine dust.

Garden bed revamp

11-3-09/12-03-09
Activities: To change the 3 garden beds outside the office buiding. After much careful planning by Russell and staff it was time to change the 3 main garden beds. We split into 3 groups and each group was assigned a garden bed. Our group (Rob, Luke, Caroline, Jonno, Liam).
I was involved with garden bed 1 which is the one closest to the front office. Our job was to remove all shrubs and plants from the bed. There was also a rather large Hakia which wasnt going to be easy. In less than 2 hours everything was removed except the Hakia. Rob decided to go against what everyone else had been told and pruned (if you can call it that) the Hakia.
The next task was to remove all the roots and mulch up the branches.
Cameron had shown us the best way to prepare the branches fo the mulcher.
Jonno, Liam and I spent about 2 hours mulching.
Next day was spent doing more mulching (by others), removing the Hakia and its roots, removing the top layer of mulch from the garden bed, and generally tiding up.
Both days we put up witches hats and a saftey barrier.
Est 10 hrs. Act 10hrs.
PPE: Longsleeves, glasses, steel caps, earmuffs, gloves, saftey vests.
Tools: Wheel barrows, spades, rakes, saws, broom, secuaters, crowbar, shears, witches hats.
OH&S: Insects, picks, electricity, saws, eyes, mulcher, muscular, 3rd party, rsi.

Seeds/Propagation

10-3-09

Activities: Today we did some propagation in the nursery. This involved Russell and I making up a prop mix. Once the prop mix had been made we then used it to put our seeds in. The seeds were delivered from the Wild Seed Co in 25g packets. Weighed the seeds on scales so we knew how many to use. The prop mix went into punnets which was genlty tamped down around 3-4cm from the top. A small pinch of seeds was then placed onto each Punnet. Then a small layer of medium (forgot what we used) was placed on top and then that was gently tamped down. All the tubs were then placed on a trolly, gently watered and put in the prop room.

PPE. Face mask (making the prop mix),

Est 2hr, Act 2hr.

OH&S: Electricity, fine dust, cement mixer, muscular.

Tools: Cement mixer,ext lead, face mask, tamper, bucket, watering can.

Excursion on bus.

3-3-09
Activities: Went on bus trip to different sites to look at plants, rocks and soil types.
Went to Fern Tree, down Summer Leas rd, Houn hwy and finally Kingston Bch.
We collected 4 types of soils to test the pH.
Dolerite : 6-6.5 pH
Mudstone : 4.5-5 pH
Basalt: 6 pH
Limestone: 5 pH
Testing kit used was Colourimetric.
Tools: Colourmetric test kit, trowel, bucket
OH&S: Highway, snakes, insects.
PPE: Longsleeves, hat.

Hedge trimming outside office buiding

18-2-09
Activitities: Pruned back Juniperus conforta with new pair of secateurs and hedge shears. First attempt I was a little quick and left some noticable cuts which wasnt pleasing to the eye. Cameron showed me the right way to prune it and on the second attempt it looked much better.
Also removed a weed called Twitch Rope from in front of the hedge.
Est 1hr. Act 1hr
Tools: Wheel barrow, buckets, secateurs and hedge shears.
OH&S: Eyes, insects, muscular.
PPE: Protective glasses, gloves, long clothes, steel caps, hats, sunscreen, steel caps.

Machinery/Tractors (David Eyles)

17-2-09
Activities: We were shown the features on 2 different types of tractors. The first one we looked at was a smaller tractor (Kabota). We did a small tast drive towing and reversing a trailer around witches hats. The second Tractor (Daedong) was much larger and fairly new. We drove this as well, scooping up mulch and putting it back. Also driving it up a 15 degree slope and back down. Both tractors had front loaders.
OH&S: Tractor saftey.
Tools: Tractor trailer, witches hats.
PPE: Hat, long clothes (shirt tucked in), steel caps.

Cleaning up outside front office building

12-2-09

Activities: Cleaned up garden outside front of building. Including raking leaves, sweeping paths, pruning, lawn edging and hedge trimming.

-Est 1hr. Act 1 hr

OH&S: Tools, musucular, eyes, insects.

PPE: Hat, gloves, long clothes, sunscreen, steel caps, saftey glasses.

Tools: Secateurs, lawn trimmer, rake, broom, leaf hands, buckets, wheel barrows, hedge shears.

Nursery weeding

11-2-09.
Activities: Today was our first trip to the Campus nursery. We successfully removed weeds from potted plants. Such as Epolodien, Willow Herb, Mouse Ear and Cats Ear. We discovered 2 types of snails including English and Australian varieties. Also 2 different coloured Aphids, brown adults and green juveniles.
Tools: Wheel barrows and buckets to put the weeds into which would then be mulched.
We also removed and cleaned underneath where the potted plants were.

Est 3 hrs, Act 6 hrs.

PPE:Hat, gloves and full length clothes, steel caps, saftey glasses.

OH&S: Insect bites, muscular