Interned at Midwest Groundcovers
Summer, 2008

Damian Richardson working with the transfer team inspecting plants for shipping Damian Richardson with managers, Larry Billings and Drew Koschmann

I had the fortunate opportunity to spend my past summer working for Midwest Groundcovers. I lived and worked in Glenn Michigan at their perennial production facility. I worked with the growers in all aspects of plant production from taking and sticking cuttings, watering, pruning and spacing. I also worked with our plant health specialist in scouting for pests and diseases. Some of my weekly duties included taking water and soil samples to help us regulate our fertilization program. I also worked with the inventory transfer team to assure our quality of plants were ready to be shipped for sale. I also became very familiar with the computer system to fill our production reports, loss reports, change plant growing status and update inventory.

This was such an amazing experience because I had never lived outside of Iowa before. Michigan was so much different than anything I'd ever imagined. It was a whole new experience to see such a different landscape and to have a beautiful lake nearly in my back yard.

I learned many valuable skills from my internship with Midwest Groundcovers. I believe that there are many things one cannot learn in a classroom and it takes great opportunities like this to help you widen your base of knowledge and improve your skills to give you an upper hand when seeking a professional career once you leave school.