Gardeners Go Europe

Yesterday was a fantastic day where we could experience the danish hospitality up close.

After work we were invited in the private garden of Per Kjaer who is one of the executives in our exchange company Buus & Co.
He showed us his amazing private garden what you would better call a private park.
Without doubt you can say that Per made his hobby to his profession.
He and his wife put all their heart blood and time into the garden. It is unbelievable how many detais and well created places you can discover in their garden.

After this great guide we made some barbeceau with Per and his family in their lovely garden house.

Also interesting was the trip to the Lille Vildmose, which is a big nature reserve near Aalborg with our private guide Per.
Because of the spagnum it is an important topic, especially for us gardener.


Back at their home they offered us some coffee and danish cake where I have to ask for the recipe.

As a souvenir Per gave us a joung Rhododendron plant.
The cultivation of Rhododendron is his big passion.
We promise to take care about them in their new home country Germany.

Even today I have no words for the hospitality of Per and his family.
That is why my exchange mates Dan, Dominik, Jonas and I want to say thank you for your invitation.
We are really grateful for this wonderful evening.

Greentings
Sonja

After one week it's the first time we aren't doing the morning routine together. A few moments before I have finished cleaning and watering the snake house I found a baby snake that was quite scared of everything including butterflies.
Meanwhile Felix is already high up under the top of the biggest glasshouse cutting some Ficus benjamina. After getting the branches out and getting everything ready for the customers we ate something and then we went outside to Denmarks Park to clean the enclosure of the different pigs.
In the end we cleaned the kitchen. That is also something that we're doing in place of Jens-Christian who is on holidays.

The work starts at 7 o'clock with a short meeting of the animal keepers and the gardeners.
After that we have got shown the morning routine of watering and cleaning that we are going to do every morning in place of somebody who is on holidays. We also started to cut out the fence around the Denmarks Park, the outside area of Randers Regnskov. There we also cut the plants along the way.
After a nice lunch we put some mulch out of barks into the enclosure of the nosebears. Then we cut the Lonicera around the buildings and weeded weed.

We're really impressed by how nice all the people here are and almost everyone can speak english on a good level. So if they notice that you don't speak danish they immediately switch to english. It's really really nice.

As our first week in Denmark is allready over, it is time to tell you about our first experiences we got here. As far as I can see, we are all having a great time here. Everything positive, that has been told by our teachers has either come true or was even exceled.

After a long and hard trip to Aalborg by car, we all were very happy, when Finn Rassmussen Slaikjer (the local gardening teacher, who is our contact person here in Aalborg) gave us the key to our appartments and we could finally get some sleep in a warm, cosy bed.

After our first night, we all got up quite early and went out to find our new workplaces, where we all got a nice welcome. We were introduced to our coworkers and got our first work assignments. During the next five days, we all learned a lot about landscape gardening in Denmark, which is not as similar to working in Germany. For example Dan and I found out, how to place concrete plates and pavement on muddy ground with just using different mixtures of sand and pebbles ( - mostly sand), as the basic fundament. We even found out, how a small excavator can disappear in wet ground within seconds - and more importantly, how it can get removed from it again.

Some other experiences and days later, it was allready our first weekend in Denmark and the group from Aalborg decided, it was a good idea to head out for the most northern piece of Central Europe, which is near Skagen. It is called Grenen, where Kattegat and Skagerrak (part of the North Sea) meet. We had a great sunny day here and allready can understand, why the people in Denmark are said to be one of the most happy people in Europe. Now it is late on Sunday and I am looking forward to gain even more great experiences here in Denmark. To be continued...

Greetings
Jonas

Am 07. Juli fand in der Geschäftsstelle des Verbandes Garten-, Landschafts- und Sportplatzbau Baden-Württemberg e.V. in Leinfelden-Echterdingen unser Vorbereitungstreffen statt. Schon zum zweiten Mal waren wir hier Gäste und wurden bestens betreut. Unser Dank geht in erster Linie an Frau Almut Meyer und alle anderen Mitarbeiter/innen der Geschäftsstelle.

Außerdem danken wir Herrn Bierig, der das Vorhaben durch einen Benzinkostenzuschuss - wie auch in den Vorjahren - wieder unterstützt.

In diesem Jahr werden 8 Auszubildende vom 27.08. bis 16.09. ein dreiwöchiges Praktikum in Aalborg und Randers absolvieren.

Today i'm gonna finish the this years blogs. All gardeners liked their work and enjoyed the time here in denmark. It was a big adventure for everyone of us, beginning with the trip, the food, the work and so many more things. It was a unforgettable time for everyone.



In Randers Regnskov, our company we worked at, we was friendly greeted at the first saturday. The Rainforest celebrated 20th Anniversary at this day with all the workers and their family. We get to know Sergio Pacinotti, he is managing the gardener employees in Randers Regnskov. The leader oft he zoo is Henrik Herold.
We recognized fast that in our company there is a social environment and the employees are open minded and happy with their work. It is a special workplace and if you tell someone you work at Randers Regnskov, it is a small status symbol to work there (maybe the same if you are working at the german Wilhelma in Stuttgart).
Our tasks was for example
- reshape exhibition areas (Umgestaltung von Ausstellungsteilen)
- plant care, renewal pruning (Pflanzenpflege, Rückschnitt)
- new planting, vegetative reproduction (Neupflanzungen, Vermehrung)
- pull up weeds, flaming, , chopping (Unkraut mähen, abflammen, hacken)



I learned so much in this 3 weeks here, especially on the social base i have learned very much. At our visit at the Aarhus botanical garden i had the chance to get to know many plants. I learned how fast 3 weeks can pass by.
I really want to thank that many persons for this time here - thanks for the german teachers, especially Mr. Schrader for his time to give so many students the chance to do these internships. Thanks to my german employer Gärtnerei Huber for the possibility to go here, also thanks to Randers Regnskov to give us the chance to work here. A big thanks just to my guest family. I really enjoyed the time here, the food, the free-time as well.
I think i will miss some different types of food in here. What i wont miss? The expensive things - if you know the cheap food in germany you always compare the prices.
I really i hope i can come back in a while – i got to know so many kind people and hope i can meet them a second time. The 3 weeks were really great and i will always remember them.
Many thanks.
Tak & Vi ses,
Florian

Hello again,
I wanted to say a huge Thank you to every single one of you, who made this Project happen.
Thank you to our Teachers in Germany for supporting us, for choosing us and for believing in us. :) Dankeschön!
Thank you to Annette and Finn for supporting us as well; for showing us their school and just for this whole experience.
Thank you to my german Company for letting me do that.
Thank you to my danish Company OKNygaard for showing me around, for giving me advice, and just Thank you for everything you did in that time.
Mange Tak!!!
I also want to thank the other students who were there with me, just Thank you!

My Visit in Denmark was over a Month ago. In that time I could reflect everything I experienced.
And I am still very overwhelmed. I learned about new Cultures, Traditions and parts of a new Language.I saw new Landscapes and it was really beautiful. I saw new kinds of doing work.
And that is pretty awesome.
I had alot of fun in that time and I really enjoyed it.
I can also imagine working abroad to some point in my Life and I am planning to go into another Country and work there. I really like the thought of that.
So again Thank you for everything. You´re pretty amazing.

Lots of Love

Ann-Kathrin


(Beach in Frederikshavn)

Here I explain you my experiences from Denmark.

I can find many differences from Germany to Dennmark.
The people here are Berry friendly. I am very happy about my guest family. I'm feeling like a family member.

On a other point i would to say thanks to our teachers, the Randers Rajnskov and the friendly people in Denmark.

The working conditions are totally different, the Zoo has a very social way and gives the employers a lot of back. The zoo has a great atmosphere.

On a special place like this zoo to work makes me really happy.

Thanks
Max Bader

I just want to say thank you!!!

After two weeks at home, I had to think and tell a lot over Denmark! I collected many new impressions.
I realy enjoed the trip to Denmark, I learned so much, it was a realy impressive time.

thanks to all who made it possible.

Jeg håber på en tidlig reunion
Tak for det informative tid

many greetings
mange hilsner

Johanna

3am: I wake up. My room mate is snoring so loud that i'm not able to hear my own voice anymore. I hope the neighbours would call the police to save my sleep.
5:30: After a dream full of Sand, Wind and Akvavit my Alarm is ringing. I decide to stay for the next 10 minutes in bed.
5:40: Two aggressive Alarms at the same time start ringing painful loud.
5:50: I have brushed my teeth and my room mate is still ignoring his two Alarms.
6:00: Most of us (except of my room mate) are in the eating room. We are opening the fridges and get our breakfast/lunch boxes. We look full of expectations at the boxes with the lettering "Tech College". Which surprise would it be today?
It's almost empty! The kitchen women explained to us that some mysterious guys stole our food yesterday night. Some of us will stay hungry today...
6:50 Sebastian and I just arrived at buus&co, the company we work at. Everyone takes a coffee and sits down. It's Kims Birthday! He brought a nice cake with candy on it. We have got german sparkling wine and Peanuts as a present for him.
7:00: The workers Start preparing their cars to get to the building sites, except of the mechanician. He waits with a cup of coffee and a cigarette that a car or a machine will break and his help will be needed.
9:00: After working for 2 hours it's time for an half an hour break.
9:30: We continue working. Our company Buus&Co belongs to a very famous man called Inger who owns half of Aalborg.
12:00: It's Lunch time for half an hour. The breaks are absolutely obligatory.
15:00: I start putting the tools in the car when sunddendly an old woman starts talking in danish to me. She looks really angry. I just say "Jeg taler ikke dansk!" (I don't speak danish) and carry on working. She starts laughing at me and goes her way.
15:30: All the workers have been waiting for this exact time and leave the company. Vis ses! (Auf wiedersehen)
16:00 My room mate slept for 3 hours over his learning material after he had come back from work. His company is really work-shy and lazy. The workers employed by the cities out of germany would feel like at home there.
17:55: 5 over over-punctual good looking German gardeners wait in front of the eating room to get in.
18:00 What a surprise? It's Pork day again!
20:00 It's time for a round binokel. Sometimes we get interrupted by questions about entrance fees, bad looking sunburns, or milk on the dinner table, but no problem for the 5 good looking gardeners, we have the right answers!
22:00 After heavy discussions about ladders, driving money, irregular english verbs, one night stands with danish guys, and the last way to oknygaard (for those who know.....: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rigxc8puTts) it's time to say good night.

I want to say thank you to Baumschule Schimmele that it was possible to send me to Denmark to spy the danish working methods.
I also want to thank Buus&Co for being so kind to let 2 germans work at your amazing company!
It was also nice that Finn (a danish Teacher) visited us in our companies to look if we are working fast enough.
Special thanks go to Eva Baumgartner our german Teacher, who helped us with the organisational matters!
I will miss the amazing working times and the other four good looking gardeners, it was a pleasure to meet you, we had a great time together! The nice view on the Neckar in Heilbronn is unfortunately not the same as the view over the Fjord in Aalborg.
Anyway i'm looking forward to see the people who are important to me again!
Anytime I hope I will have the time to return to Aalborg and visit Buus&Co!

Eigentlich war ich ja schon vor einer Woche dran mit meinem Block. Aber ich habe immer darauf gewartet, dass noch ein großes Abenteuer kommt.
Also das Praktikum hat schon gut angefangen, auch wenn ich auf Grund meiner schlechten Englisch Kenntnisse nicht alles verstanden habe. Mein Vorarbeiter Thomas hat es trotzdem meistens geschafft mir etwas zu erklären, manchmal mit Händen und Füßen ;) und hat mich die ersten 2 Tage sogar alleine auf eine Baustelle geschickt. Bei ihm war es sehr locker zu arbeiten und ich hatte immer schon vor 15:00 Feierabend zum Teil schon um 12:00, meine Mitbewohner waren dann manchmal leicht neidisch ;)
Neben meiner Englisch Kenntniss gab es noch ein anderes Problem, das frühe Aufstehen :( worunter einer meiner Mitbewohner sehr zu leiden hatte da er entweder von einem durchdringenden Wecker 10 Minuten geweckt wurde, dieser endete erst mit dem generften Satz: mach endlich den Wecker aus, jedoch war es damit nicht getan. Denn spätestens 3 Minuten später begann die Qual von neuem. Dazu kam noch das er wegen lauten schnarchens manche Nacht kaum ein Auge zu bekam. Dies wurde mit dem generften Satz kommentiert leg dich anders hin oder du bekommst eine Wäscheklammer auf die Nase. Ansonsten verstanden wir uns sehr gut!
Meine Arbeit:
Anfangs baute ich einen Garten fertig, dass heißt ich machte eine Rasenplanie und pflasterte einen Gehweg mit Granitpflastersteinen. Nach drei Tagen fingen wir dann eine neue Baustelle an. Da aber noch viele andere Bauarbeiter auf dieser Baustelle waren konnten wir manchmal nicht viel arbeiten, daher hatte ich dann öfters früh Feierabend. Einen Tag lang half ich einem Subunternehmer von uns eine Betonwand zu schalen, was ich interessant fand. Bei manchen Arbeiten war ich verwundert wie das hier gemacht wird im Gegensatz zu unserer Arbeitsweise.
Freitags als wir im Agri College waren gab es doch noch ein kleines Abenteuer. Nachdem wir die Schule besichtigt hatten, welche auch einen Kuhstall Schweinestall und viele andere Tiere hält, fuhren wir nach Blockhus um am Strand entlang zu fahren. Irgendwann blieb das Auto unseres Lehrers im Sand stecken. Und es war nicht so einfach wieder frei zu kommen. Jedoch durch das freigraben der Reifen und mit viel Muskelkraft kamen wir nach einer Stunde doch noch frei und konnten unseren Ausflug doch noch fortsetzen. Die Freude war nur kurz denn nachdem die zwei anderen Autos nochmal anhielten mussten wir sie nochmal anschieben. Jedoch Sebastians starker Audi musste nicht angeschoben werden :) und wir kamen dann irgendwann doch noch heim.
Für mich vergingen die drei Wochen recht schnell da ich, wenn wir nicht gerade etwas unternahmen oder mit Jacob Binokel spielen lernen, für meine Prüfung lernte. Und es mir hier sehr gefällt :) die Menschen sind hier einfach lockerer.
Kurz um es war eine tolle Zeit hier und ich hätte es bereut nicht dabei gewesen zu sein.

In diesem Zuge möchte ich mich auch dafür bedanken dass, das alles hier für uns organisiert und ermöglicht wurde nach Dänemark zu gehen! Vielen Dank!

Gruß Willem

When I decided to choose Buus as my host company, I had no idea how the company or the colleagues would be.
Now that our stay here is nearly over I have to say it was the best decision I could make.
My team mate Jakob and I were lovingly received when we came to work on our first day. We were affectionately called the „Tysker“ (Germans).


Most of the time I was with Nikolaj on tour and we finished one project after an other. Working wit him was very awesome and funny. Although both of us could not speak perfectly english we understood each other. If he did not know a word in english, he tried it in danish and often it was similar to the german word.

Last week I had to drive one hour up to Frederikshavn with Sharon. She is green, that means she is working with plants and removing weeds. She doesn´t like the highway so I drove. When we arrived there we started to lay „rullegras“ (roll lawn). We did this the whole day, I think nearly 300 square meters. After the long ride home I was really tired and glad for the shower, a good dinner and my bed.


This week we started with pulling out some old stones on a driveway near Aalborg. After that was finished Nikolaj dug out the old sand and the soil with the mini excavator. Most of the time I had to drive the dirt into a container with the wheel loader. It was a big area that we were preparing so it took 2 days. Thereafter we put some kind of gravel in, for stabilization.
Unfortunately our time is over, so I will not see the finish result…:(

My good friend the wheel loader GIANT <3

During our stay in Denmark we lived at the Aalborg Sportshøjskole. We got breakfast there, lunch and dinner as well. Most of the time we were very happy with the food, even if there was a lot of pig on the menu.

All in all the time in denmark was a very useful and enriching experience. I really enjoyed it being here!

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...