Announcing a new online course with Red Seal Vas

Guaranteed improvement after 35 lessons!

Every season there would be a number of in-house messages for all employees to read about lessons from the field. Real lessons reported soon after they happened. For example, an experienced landscaper mowed over a stump every week and cleared it, until one week he didn’t and destroyed a mower shaft in the process. Labour and parts cost almost C$1,000 and the mower was never the same; and neither is the boss who gets very upset.

Then I got the idea of collecting the best, most-instructive entries, many with pictures, and making them available in a new online course. And because the lessons actually happened in the field, I am confident that new and experienced landscapers, homeowners and gardeners will improve after going through all thirty-five lessons.

Red Seal Vas in your pocket

Every year I train several new landscapers in the field while they work with me. Those are the best on-the-go lessons. No technical textbooks or academic cases, just skills straight from the landscape. We prune together so we first identify the pruning target and discuss why we are pruning. Then we do it.

Clean-ups are just as important as good pruning. Just last week my apprentice did some hand pruning and then moved on across the lawn to do more pruning. But I had to take him back to clean-up the first area well; then he was allowed to move on.

When we run into a sign left by a homeowner we talk about it. See my last blog about a Forsythia shrub. Now the apprentice knows to look for a yellow ball in early spring; and he can only prune it after flowering and not after July so the buds have time to set for next year.

This is a real lesson he learned on the go as we worked. That’s what journeymen landscapers can do for your employees: share their knowledge! Don’t pay any attention to in-house naysayers. I have lots of haters and I try to ignore them all. My goal is to develop great new landscapers and inspire them to become Red Seal journeymen horticulturists like me.

35 solid lessons

My new online course covers 35 important lessons. Some are extremely important, like mulch volcanoes, soil compaction and tree topping. Others are easier, like how to put Gunnera to bed. Click the link below and become a better landscaper! Homeowners and gardeners will also benefit from this course.