Some landscape contracts are very different. Almost bizarre. Surreal. This was my thought when I found myself in Surrey, British Columbia, in 2014, maintaining city tree wells.
I came ready with a bucket and my own tomahawk hand tool. Ready to go, as usual. I was about to get introduced to all-day tree well maintenance on city boulevards.
When I accepted my municipal job in 2014, I knew I would be laid-off in November. What would happen during the lay-off wasn’t very clear. I had come off my best-ever working season and it was a huge letdown to be away from my city boss gardener. I openly admit to missing her for a few weeks. Working under a municipal gardener is amazing. I would recommend it to anyone. I had to face my fears but I learned a lot.
Position found
Lay-off or no, my cute kids have to eat. Luckily, I knew a private landscape company owner who needed some winter help. Mainly with cedar and tree pruning. You can’t wrong by hiring a Red Seal Journeyman Horticulturist. My work week usually included a session in Surrey on tree well duty.
Tree well maintenance
We followed detailed city maps and our pick-up truck would drop us off at one end. Then we’d run through the tree wells. We’d get picked up at the end of every section and get driven to another city section. And so on. Until, thankfully, lunch arrived.
My initial approach to tree well weeding was too cute. I would remove weeds with my tomahawk hand tool and put them into a bucket. Wrong. Too much green waste. Too slow. Too much love.
So I got retrained.
We jumped out of the truck, hand-picked weeds out of every single tree well and threw them on the lawn. It went on this way until the section got done. It was like getting paid to cross-train because we had to hustle to cover hundreds of tree wells every day. I also felt like a tourist working all over Surrey. The other benefit was practicing botanical names of trees. The city lists all tree species with botanical names. Incidentally, this is why I recommend that all landscapers learn botanical names. Common names are useless.
Surreal
Carpooling home, I couldn’t believe I had just hand-weeded hundreds of tree wells at a nice tempo. It is a lucrative municipal contract for the company. Still, it felt surreal for a worker. Hop out, run to the first tree well, bend over, hand pick weeds and throw them on the lawn and run to the next tree well. Repeat. All day.
By April 2015 I was back at my municipal job. Now, in 2017, when I drive by city tree wells in Surrey I smile. It was an experience and my kids were happy and fed.
