Gardeners Go Europe

Ok now it's my turn to explain you my experiences from Denmark..

Well there are many differences bettween Denmark and Germany ( for example planting)


But i have to say , although the 3 weeks are not over yet, that it was a great experience for me...

At this point i would to say thanks to our teachers, the Elmerhoj company, the friendly people in Denmark and to the Projekt GrünRaum Gmbh for giving me this chance..

But not all can be perfect, also in Denmark... for me the 2 week was very stressfull, because my front window of my car was broken... but the Danish peope are very helpful so this problem get fixed very fast..

Well that was what i had to say :D So maybe see you again Denmark

Today is the 11th day.
That is a long time. But it dosen´t feel like that. I´m really happy to be hear in Denmark, I love this country!
I love the landscape, the sea, the nature, the sun, the beautiful houses and the culture. It feels like comming home. Danish people are really friendly and helpful.

I´m working with Marcel, in the company Elmahøj. It is a small company with 25 employees. We drive 30 min. with the car, to our buildingsite. We are working with Torben in Aars. Torben is our foreman, since Thursday we got a new employee more, his name is Simon he is in the education too. I really like Torben and Simon.
Last week we started to lay path. This week we make the same. I know it sounds boring, but it isn´t. It is a lot of fun, because we have three ways to scrape off the sand and four ways to lay the path.
I want to tell you about one way to lay path, actually it is the same as in Germany, but when you see the picture, than you know what I mean.
It is a vacuum tool, but a really old on. In Germany we have the same but in the new way, so it looks really diffrent.

I hope that we can go to other a buildingsite next week, so maybe we can learn more about Danish work.

On Monday we had free and the weather was good, so we four girls started our beach trip.
First we drove to the palmbeach in Fredrikshaven. After that we drove to Skagen. Skagen is in the end of north Denmark, you can see there how the "Nordsee" and "Ostsee" are chrushing together.
It is really beautiful there.
We tried to go into the water, but it was to cold to go inside with the whole body, so we just went inside with our feets. The sand was warm an the water cold, it was just nice!

The last beach was near Løkken. There is a lighthouse, everyone told us to go there so we did it.
We had to walk 15 minutes to the lighthouse from the parkingzone.
On the way to it, we saw a lot of Hippophae rhamnoides bushes and Pulsatilla vulgaris. Around us were a lot grassland with sheeps. It was so sweet to see the lambs playing on the grass.

In the end of our journey we saw the lighthouse in the middle of really really much sand....
It was so breathtaking to see the contrast between the blue sea, the white sand and on the other side the green nature.
It was just beautiful. I don´t have other words for it...
I really hope for more moments like this one.

Hello you beautiful People in Germany and Denmark.
Today it is my turn to tell you about this wonderful experience.
My Company is OKNygaard and in my first Week I went to mowing the lawns of Aalborg. It was fun and Kristian told me by the way alot of Denmarks culture.
One Tradition was especially stuck in my Head.
If a unmarried person turns 25 years old. He or she is bound to a pole mostly a Lantern and then the freinds throw cinnamon on him or her. I am telling you this because everywhere where I had to mown the Lawns sometimes there would be a Lantern with Cinnamon on it.

On Monday we, the girls, traveled to some Beaches to just see this beautiful landscape. I am telling you about our Day in Frederickshavn.
Special anout the Beach in Frederickshavn is that there are Palms on the Beach, no kidding, real Palms.



We walked around the Beach and collected Seashells. It was soooo beautiful, just to see the water, to smell the salty Air and to feel the sand under our shoes.



Today at work Olivia, Manuela and me had to plant some ground cover-plant.
At first we had to spread some turf substrate, then we took a spade and digged respectively mixed the turf with the soil below.


After that we had to spread some jute net over the embankment, so that Soil is saved from slading.
And finally we planted the ground cover-plants. On 1 m² we planted 8 plants. The Plant was an Pachysandra terminalis ( Japanese spurge ).



After that was done we got to another place and started anew.

Well, that was my time here in Denmark. I really enjoy it and love it here. The Danish are very open-minded, nice and tolerant. Hopefully I will be able to tell you lots of more stories and adventures.

See you soon (Vi ses!)

After our first week of working in Denmark, we had to think about our leisure time. First we planned to go to the sea, but on Saturday weather was too bad. So we decided to visit Regenskov in Randers. It is a tropical garden with wild animals under 3 big hemispheres.
So 5 good looking gardeners headed to Randers, a city ca. 45 min away from Aalborg.

As we entered the tropical garden we found ourselves immediately in a south-american Rainforest,
temperatures and humidity increased rapidly. The journey began…

On our tour through the continents we met several toxic and dangerous wild animals. Such as snakes, bats, spiders, scorpions, Piranhas, jaguars, monkeys and……turtles.

We climbed trees and hills and walked through ancient temples. The vegetation was very different than what we have known so far. We didn't recognize a lot of plants.

We believe that working in Regenskov must be a pleasure and a great experience for our german colleges, the ornamental gardeners.

After our adventure we had to make a life changing decision, whether we go to McDonalds or to the local restaurant. The decision was fast made.

Hannes, Marcel, Willem, Jakob and Sebastian



To be continued...

After work we drove 30 minutes to a wonderful lake called Store Økssø. The road to the lake was really bumpy, so it was a lot of fun. At first we collected firewood in the forest. And started to make a fire. At home we made stock bread dough and baked it over the fire.
After a while it got colder so we finished the barbecue.
We put our things in our cars and walked around the lake. Actually we wanted to swim, but it was so cold, but Olivia still got for a swim. The water was warmer than the air around us.
It was a really really beautiful evening.

This morning my day started at 7:15 am. First my colleague and I drove to the company to pick up a compactor. Afterwards we went to the building site where I had been the last days. There we met our team leader (Kaspar) who told us to go to another lot because there wasn't enough work for three persons. As we arrived at our new building site Peter, the foreman, introduced us which work we should do. After he told us what to do we were so exhausted from listening that we had to take a break and eat something ;-)
Bursting with energy we started to place some curbstones and supported them with concrete followed by paving with cobblestones. At eleven o'clock Kaspar called us and said that we can come back to the first lot. Once again we supported curbstones with concrete. In the afternoon I assisted my colleague with cleaning up the building site and put some old rails away. When everything was cleaned up and organized I was driven home by my colleague. "Thanks, dude! :-)"

During my three weeks stay in Aalborg I am working for OKNygaard. At this company work is split in green and grey. This week I am working for the green division. The last two days I worked with two girls on a big area with several apartment buildings. The whole ground is not so old, maybe you can see it on the picture below

We were weeding one bed after the other. We did this again and again. It was a quite boring but also easy job. As the weather is very good (no clouds, continuous sun and temperatures between 20 and 25 degrees) and the two girls are very friendly the job is anyway fun. I also want to mention that the Danish people are very friendly, open minded and try every time to help other persons. And they give us lots of tips what we can do during our visit in Denmark. So it is not going to be boring in our leisure time. By the way they pick us up every morning and drive us home after work to Sportshøjskole. This is more than we can expect. So at this point big thanks for this.
Yesterday evening, we went for a two hours walk on the promenade. At the end of a rampart we found a nice place to sit down and observe the sailing and rowing boats. During the whole walk we made a couple of beautiful photos. On the pictures below you can see the beautiful sunset.

This morning I had to wake up very early because my colleague Andreas picked me up at 6 am. He always starts one hour earlier than normal so he has more time in the afternoon. At first we drove to the other side of Aalborg to a bank. There we had to pick up garbage with a long stick where you can grab something. In the mean time my colleague cut the grass with a brush cutter. After that I went over the pathway with a leaf blower so everything gets clean. Our next building sites were train stations. The first one was in Hobro and the second one was in Skørping. There we had to collect garbage also under the hedge. We weeded weed out and put mineral fertilizer on the roses. My colleague burned weed with a flame thrower. He just had to go over it fast so the cells in the plant brake and water gets out so the plant dies from inside out. We couldn´t use herbicides like Roundup to get rid of the weed because it was a government building. Our last building side was on a company area and there we used Roundup for weed on pathways and around the building. We also had go around trees and lamps so it is easier for the grass man to cut it. For our health we had to wear long pants, plastic gloves, buts and a gas mask.
In the afternoon I drove with my car to a the lake Store Økssø and walked around it. I also swum in the lake. It was very nice. I found a great tree to climb and to sit in it. I drove back to the Sportshøjskole. It took me around half an hour. After that I went to dinner and out with my camera for a walk to get some good pictures near the water.

Today was my first working day at buus&Co. I started at 7 o'clock and worked till 3:30 in the afternoon. While working I enjoyed the good weather in Aalborg and I got to know my nice new colleagues. Our accomodation is pleasant and located only 2 km away from the center. The soap smells really bad but the meals are delicious. We also had some struggles with the shutters but after we solved this with our concentrated power there was nothing left that could stop us. Weakened by the long exhausting drive from Heilbronn to Aalborg yesterday it was a pleasure to work physically in the sun today. We had to cut down trees and bushes. After we had finished this job we drove back to the company ground and planted some Carpinus betulus as hedge. "Baumschule Schimmele" would have had better quality. Anyway I kept calm and carried on planting. Not every city can be so lucky to have a "Baumschule Schimmele". I'm looking forward to work tomorrow at Buus&Co for new experiences as a competent landscaper in Denmark.
God morgen!

We just arrived in Aalborg!

After over a month I see the stay in Denmark clearer. I didn’t just learn about the work, also about the people and the country itself. I will remember Denmark as a beautiful country with very nice and helpful people. I enjoyed every single day while we were there.
But the possibility of the stay was not our own merit. There were many people who collaborated. And I owe thanks to these people.
At first I want to thank our teachers Mrs. Baumgartner, Mrs. Mangold and Mr. Schrader who had the idea which enabled us to do this trip. Thank you for your commitment for young gardeners to see the world. I hope you'll be active for the next generations, too.
They went to Denmark to cooperate with the teachers there, Finn and Anette. Thank you for the possibility of the exchange.
Finn and Anette found companies where we could solve the traineeship. I thank the bosses of these companies, especially Martin, the leader of Buus & Co. where I was allowed to work. I thank the employees of Buus too, at first Kristian and Mariusz who picked me up and drove me home but also the others I worked with for example Michael for the fun and nice conversations we had.

Tusind tak!

Nun liegt mein Aufenthalt einige Wochen zurück. Ich kann nun auf einen sehr schönen Aufenthalt in Dänemark zurückblicken. Landschaftlich ist das Land wirklich beeindruckend. Mir wird die Weite und die offene Art der Dänen auf jeden Fall in sehr guter Erinnerung bleiben. Auch die langen Tage habe ich anfangs hier in Deuthschland vermisst. Denn in Dänemark wurde es zum Zeitpunkt unseres Aufenthaltes kaum dunkel. Mein Dank gilt den Lehrer, die diesen Austausch ermöglicht haben, den dänischen Betrieben und natürlich - nicht zu vergessen - den anderen Austauschgärtnern. Wir waren immer eine lustige Truppe und hatten viel Spaß. Rückblickend ist das mit dem mangelhaften dänischen Betrieb auch nicht mehr so gravierend. Ich habe viel vom Land und den Leuten gesehen. Damit bin ich sehr zufrieden.

Wow, nearly one month passed after returning to Germany and still I remember Randers Regnskov like it was yesterday.. I really miss the colleagues and to work around all those animals, even if I'm so afraid of snakes somehow I miss them, too. Especially to hold the python on my neck was so exciting and I think one of the most valuable experience to me! I'm so thankful for that and for the whole three weeks!
Also a big greeting goes to Jimmy, Vivi, Jacob, Jonas and Andreas (my host-family) who treated me so good, I really enjoyed your hospitality!

Im tropischen Zoo in Randers ist die Arbeit wirklich toll. Der Regenwald ist naturgetreu nachgebaut und hat verschiedene Pflanzen und Tiere. Es gibt einen drinnen und draußen Bereich. Die Pflanzen im Park müssen gegossen werden und das Unkraut muss auf den Kieswegen entfernt werden. Die meisten Pflanzen werden gespendet und somit waren wir auch in Randers unterwegs und haben die verschiedenen Zimmerpflanzen bei den Privat Leuten abgeholt und bei uns eingepflanzt.
Wir waren Im örtlichen Kino und durften für einen neuen Film die Blumen, Sand, Strand Dekoration aufbauen, das hat mir besonders gut gefallen. Am Abend gab es eine Betriebs Feier und ein Teambuilding, das trotz mangelndem Dänisch gut funktioniert hat. Danach gab es leckeres Essen vom Grill und nette Unterhaltungen.
Abends in Aarhus war es auch schön, von dem Hafen bis zum Strand gab es verschiedene Skulpturen zu besichtigen. Der Rehstreichelzoo ist sehr zu empfehlen, da die Tiere dort sehr zutraulich sind und es Spaß macht sie zu beobachten.



Vielen Dank an Randers Regnskov für die schönen drei Wochen, das Arbeiten hat sehr viel Spaß gemacht trotz des warmen und schweiß treibendem Klimas im Innen Bereich. Die Mitarbeiter sind alle sehr herzlich und zuvorkommend. Ich werde auf jeden Fall noch einmal dorthin reisen und es mir noch einmal anschauen.
The employees are very kind and obliging. I will travel once again there.
Liebe Grüße
Sophie