Blue fingers definetly not Green
Good morning all, I hope that you are well.
A little background on myself before I start asking for help
I am a 55 year old ex service man, who just left a College lecturers job, to take post as a Maintenance Technician, (handy man) in a 112 bed care home. Part of my duties are the care of the outside areas and whilst I am happy to do the graft traditionally I do kill things in my own Garden. Fair to say I am not a natural, hence my joining this lovely site.
I will do my own research and the work I need to get on top and keep the gardens to the standard required but hoped that you guys might be able to give me a little leg up when required.
I will post some general pictures shortly to give you a feel for the task ahead.
Many thanks for any help you can give. soooooo Grass... that's the green stuff right and I guess we want to keep it green
Regards
Steve
Posts
Keep it green,no gravel ,plenty of flowers and shrubs and just like everyone else you will learn as you go and just remember to love the job you do.
Try to work with things rather than fight, or you will be fighting forever! As long as you dont want a bowling green lawn, its not too difficult
As flowering rose said, plant shrubs etc, most need minimal care and give good results. Look at things like choysia.
Congratulations on your new job , just shout when you need help
Go for perennials too. Annuals and seasonal bedding plants will be hard work if the garden is huge and you have no help. Although, maybe some of the residents might like to offer a hand.
…… and lots of Spring bulbs, nothing cheers you more than them coming up year on year - and they require very little attention.
As for the green stuff - it may well be grass, but don't worry about it keeping green. If we get a long dry patch it will go brown, don't waste time and resources watering it, it will green up again as if by magic when it gets wetted again. I don't much like a green sward or bowling green, my patch is full of small flowers - and we like it like that so you might too?
Hi Steve, that's an interesting change of career!
If you have lots of grass to care for I don't think you'll have time to fuss over it the way you would if it was in your own garden. Regular mowing and a fairly simple maintenance programme will probably be fine in that situation.
You'll get lots of advice here so get your pix on and we'll all help with your queries if we can.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Don't underestimate the experience and interest that's likely to be housed within the 112 bed care home - as Stephen 7 says above it's possible some of the residents would like to lend a hand (but may need to be asked / persuaded if they think it's not their place to offer?).
My grandad passed away a couple of years ago now but he maintained a greenhouse and some of the borders in the care home where he lived into his early 90's. It was also surprisingly 'political' too - disagreements amongst residents on things we may consider not that important so word of caution...if you plan on pulling up anything or similar you may want to canvas opinion first!!
Good luck in the new job - hope it goes well and you pick up some skills that can then translate back to your own garden!
Thank you all for your replies. There are 2 of us in the team although he does not like the outside Jobs so a m sure it it going to need me to take the lead. I will post some photos later to show you how it looks at present.
One of my personal goals is to get the residence "More" involved. They do a bit when the activities coordinator ... has time,I want to encourage as many as possible, hence selection of things they can do over the full year cycle will be important, as well as ease of maintenance.
When I arrived a month ago we had a big raised bed, over run with tomatoes... so many they were all in a tangle and rotting. I used common sense culled a lot, put good fruit to one side, and made 6 to 8 plants secure and tidy. This is exactly the sort of thing I don't want. Some one at some point obviously got involved planting Toms with resident and then I presume let them go.