September 28...

Today I got to use the blower in the walled garden!!!  This was fun but also hard because there are a lot of little path ways I was trying to clear... and I didnt want it to all end up back where I started or into another path that I already did...  But I got it all done and it looks pretty good!!!!

We finished fertilizing in the woodland and James has been working on the charte to get that done so we can be done with that project!!

We had a workshop today on ladder safety and than we went and started prepping the charte for planting!!!  This was fun... I spread a clam shell fertilizer around in the beds and than we root pruned!  I have never done this before but it was good and all we did was send a spade through the ground all along the border of the boxwood!!!  After that was done we picked the ground to loosen it up and than raked it smooth and level...  We probably got about 1/3 done so we will be working on it again today!!!!

September 27...

Well today was pretty warm but it was fun!!!!  James had to leave early so he left me with a list and I got to work alone... at first I was worried but than I realized how much I could do without someone to help!!!!!  It was really fun too going from one project to another and not have to check in to see whats next!!!!

The list for the day basically was taking care of the Garden House as usual and than I watered all the pots around!!!  I dead headed the roses again and mowed the tears over by the wedding area!!!  After all that was done I fertilized in the woodland with the alfalfa meal...  It was a good day even though it was all stuff I had done before!!!!  Sorry this is such a short post... I dont see anything else I can talk about at the moment!!!!

Picture Time!!!!!

These picture I am sorry to say, are not in any special order but I will give a little explanation if needed!!!

Since this is the walled garden there are about 5 different gates around the garden... they are all pretty but I will not bore you with all of them!!!!

This is part of the chart area and had lots of boxwoods that we just trimmed last week!!!

Basically just showing you one of the many eye catching lines in this area!!!!

This is actually the boxwood I spent 3 days trimming... I know what your thinking... its fine to laugh... I laugh at myself all the time... but its not at easy as you think!!!!

These doves are in the Garden House that I have been taking care of!!!!

I think the garden house use to be used differently but now its a place to look out at the garden from... there are a few plants with the birds and a table with a big flower arrangement on it in the middle!!!!

This is on the wall right before you walk into the walled garden!!!!

This is showing the grass line... wow!!!!

This is one of the couple ponds we have and the building in the back is the Garden House!!!!

This is part of a line and is a sun dial!!!  I like this part kind of in the middle of everything and has some great views!!!!

This is another pond looking up to the wedding area... there has only been one wedding there... its beautiful and  is part of the diagonal line through the whole walled garden!!!

These are begonias and is a fun part of the garden that has just a lot of little beds like you can see... I also think its part of the charte but not totally...

There are many inviting paths you see while you are walking through the walled area... this is just one of them!!!!

As you can see from the Garden House there are many views... this is one looking toward the Garden House!!!

This was just a fun picture!!!

This is area 3, or the walled and woodland area's shop!!!

This is the alfalfa fertilizer I told you about... we have gone through many bags and are still not done!!!!

This is one of the walls in the shop... we have lots of the same tool for the volunteers that help us!!!!

Normally this is where you would see the regular mower but its being used at the time of the picture!!!!

This is just the bench on the shop that has all the info about everything for this area at!!!!  Its way cool to have one place for everything you need!!!!!

This is the head gear we wear whenever we use any engined equipment or anything that makes lots of noise!!!!  Its way hot... I know :)

This is the breathing mask we wear whenever we are causing lots of stuff to be in the air... like fertilizer, grass from mowing, or anything like that!!!  Its hard to breath a little and when I wear my glasses with it they get fogged so I can only wear one of them at a time :)

Again we have lots of the same tool so that volunteers can help us!!!

These are my way cool hand clippers and I wear all the time!!!!  I use them lots...

These are my gloves... they were new when I got there... you cant tell!!!

Here is a view from the wedding area looking out!!!!!  You can see all the way down to the Garden House!!!!!

This is at the top of the wedding area!!

This is to prove that I have been there and am there everyday!!!!

This is in the Woodland part of area 3!!!  I like this area lots :)  It kind of has a magical feel to it... like your enchanted while your there!!!!!

Here is a path through the woodland to the tennis court!!!!

The sun was so perfect I had to share it with you!!!!

There are just some stairs going up to the tennis court!!!!

Here in California cyclamen grow wild... I was shocked!!!!!

I think this is just breath taking!!!!

Big trees everywhere!!!!!  Gorgeous!!!!!

This is the stage in the tennis courts where they have concerts and stuff!!!  Its way big and beautiful!!!!!

Well I help that gives you a little look at where I have been working and what I have been doing!!!! I love it here and this is only my first area to work in!!!!!  I cant wait...

September 24...

Today we filled out time card sheets and got those turned in first thing!!!  I do enjoy the part about being paid for all this work :)  After that James and I walked around all of area 3 to just check things our... James and Paul do this every Friday to see if they have missed anything or if they are behind schedule for getting things done.  It was interesting to walk around because we didn't really find anything that stuck out but I was able to ask a few questions I had about area 3 and he could answer them!!!

I got to do the Garden House again and that was fun!!!  After that I dead headed all the roses in the shart...  this was good and I really like the smell of roses!!!  Anyone that knows me well, knows I dont really like roses but I didnt mind them too much today... at least when they were not stabbing into my hand :)

When that was done I helped fertilize all the beds in the walled area... this was fun and we were using an organic fertilizer called Alfalfa Dehy Meal.  I dont know if the "Dehy" is important but it was on the label :)  I also found out that the fertilizer is 16% crude protein, 2.7% crude fat, 26.7% crude fiber, and 9.9% ash.  I thought this was interesting so I thought I would share it with you!!!!

After lunch we helped set up all the chairs, tables, and shade umbrellas for the Jazz concert on Sunday... this was a lots of hard work and a lot of heavy lifting... O well, I guess I like hard work :)

I went back to fertilizing after that was done and did that till we had our first plant walk!!!!  It was good but I just dont do well with memorizing so I have already put together a slide show with the names and pictures of the plants so I can practice them!!!!  Thats it for today but I will post pictures tomorrow... maybe Sunday!!!!

September 23...

Now that Paul is gone for a few days I get to take care of the Garden House... it went well today and the birds seem happy!!!!!

I got to use the blower for the first time ever today!!!! It was fun and I think I did a pretty good job :)... I just blew the tennis courts in preparation for the Jazz concert on Sunday!!!  In that area I also got to water all the pots... I am pretty sure they are all bonsai trees because they all look so cool!!!!  Anyway that was all I did there.

We had a workshop today taught by Mishele Evans (the assistant on the Sunken garden area) on hand tools and what all the names of them are... and how to use them!!!  We will be tested on them at the end of the 10 weeks!!!!  We got done fast with that so James had me rake leaves with some volunteers in the Woodland!!!

After lunch we worked on hedging the shart and I finally finished my hedge enough to be done with it!!!!  It was hard work and it still does not look very good... but it was my first one ever so I dont think it was all bad!!!!

I have decided to take pictures and post them once a week... that way I dont run out of pictures and you know when to expect them!!!!  The day for pictures will be Friday!!!!!

September 22...

Today was fun...  We had a good meeting in the morning with everyone.  I thought it was interesting because it was all about the employees health insurance and things like that...  After that I went and helped with the doves again in the Garden House and learned how to water all the pots in area 3!!!!

After that we went and worked a little with fertilizer...  We basically fertilized all the turf except the Garden House Lawn.  We used a fertilizer with 21-6-12 and spread it out by just throwing it or using a little hand machine that spits it out!!!  This was fun and I did the wedding tears and the wedding pond!!!  We talked about how later in the week we will be doing more so I will get more details on that probably Friday!!!

Gracy and I had a couple workshops today and those went really well!!!!  The first was all about Power Tools... we learned about a 4 stroke engine and a 2 stroke engine.  The 4 stroke is normally bigger, more powerful, and the gas and oil are separate... where the 2 stroke is lighter weight, easier to handle, and has mixed oil and gas... also here when they have 2 stoke engines the mix they use is 40 parts gas to 1 part oil.

We learned about the Blower, Stringline Trimmer, Honda Rotary Mower, and Trimmer Reel Mower.  Anytime we use these we have to wear long pants, work boots, ear and eye protection.  It was interesting to learn about how the engine works and where all the parts are and how they all work together!!!!  We will have a test on everything at the end of the 10 weeks and I hope I will remember it and understand it better!!!!

After Lunch we had our second workshop and it was on using all the same power equipment as we learned about earlier in the day!!!  It was fun to work with them and see how to make a lawn look really good!!!!  I was not very good at the edger but I hear it comes with practice!!!!!

When we were finished learning about all that we went back and kept working on hedging the box woods in the walled garden... this was fun because I got a couple tips from another worker named Megan Richards (she is the assistant in the panel garden) and we did not finish but got a lot done!!!  I am not very good at it but I keep trying and I am glad its a plant so it will grow back and not look too bad in the spring!!!

That was all for today!!!!

September 21...

Well, Its only the second day but I am learning lots!!!

The first part was cool because I learned how to take care of the doves in both locations of area 3... there is a pair by the shop and another pair in the Garden House!  Its fun and way easy... you just change the paper out and clean the water container!!!

Paul will not be here for a few days so I will get to take care of the doves in the Garden House and the whole place in general!!!  I like the Garden house and its way pretty...  I will take pictures of it for you and show you soon...  I get to water the plants in the House and make sure its swept and looks good!!!

After learning about that the three of us went and finished weeding an area in the walled garden... this basically took the rest of the morning and than we started hedging!!!!  This was fun because I had never done anything like this before but its also hard... I am not very good at making everything look perfect like the other workers... Its a bunch of little boxwoods that are all up and down the section of the garden...  theres a lot and we did not get it all done... I guess we will be working more on it tomorrow!!!!

That was basically my day and I think tomorrow will be good too!!!

First Day On The Job!!! September 20...

Well, today was basically amazing!!!!  I got to work way early so I felt lame... but the nice guy that I talked to over the little speaker let me in!!!!  Everyone was so nice and they all related my name to cheese :)  I love it!!!!

Me and Gracy (the other intern/apprentice) went and talked for a while with Lucy Tolmach...  she is the Head of the Horticulture Department at Filoli and she gave us each a 3" binder full of everything we need to know while doing our internships!!!!  It was great but it was also a lot of info to try to remember...

After all the business stuff we went and had break time with all the other garden staff and had a little 20 min party... it was sweet and I cant say enough how nice everyone it!!!!  I like nice people so it makes me happy to be around so many other nice people!!!! :)

James Costello (lead over walled and woodland garden) took us to discuss about back safety and we watched a movie about it... I can see why its so important in this field of work to be careful with our bodies!!!!

When we were through with that it was lunch time... I basically felt way lazy all morning just sitting and listening... but I know its all important stuff so I did not mind too much :)

Than for the best part of the day... I GOT TO WORK IN THE GARDEN!!!!!  Yep, I sure did :)  I used a reel mower (powered by me...) and mowed step like sections of grass over by the wedding area... it was way sweet and I really enjoyed it!!!!  When that was done I got to pull weeds!!!!  Anyone that knows me well will know I actually love pulling weeds...  Its true... I do!!!!!  Anyway, We did this for almost the rest of the day and I had a great time getting to know Paul Cady (assistant to James in the walled and woodland area) a little and just doing what I love!!!

I had to of course fill out some paper work at the end of the day and I got lost... I actually got lost like 4 times today but I just laughed and asked for help... the really funny part was when I could not even find anyone to ask for help... hahah... I will get it eventually I am sure!!!!

I last thing... I cant take pictures while I am working so I will work on taking pictures and posting them but this weeks they are kind of lame and random!!!!!!