Keeping Warm In The Bitterly Cold Northeasterly Winds

Forking Out The Wet, Heavy Leaves

Over the last week the team have been finding ways to keep warm and avoid the bitterly cold, biting northeasterly winds blowing in from Scandinavia. One such activity was to clear the leaves out from the ditch which runs from the top of the sports field and beside the canal side path, and also just happens to contain a foot of water as well as the leaves! Wellington boots on, and breaking the layer of ice that had formed on the top of the water, the leaves, wet and very heavy, were forked out from the ditch and placed on the bank to drain off. 

Forking The Leaves Into The Trailer

Piles Of Heavy, Wet Leaves On The Bank

Clearing The Piles Of Leaves

The numerous piles of leaves left to drain on the side were collected up and, using a pitch fork or leaf grab, were placed into either the wooden trailer or the large wheelbarrow and transported to the canal side hedge where they were deposited at its base as a leafy mulch. The physical exertion of clearing the leaves from the ditch, lifting them into trailers and, with the wheelbarrows, wheeling them over to the hedge and tipping them into piles then, with a pitch fork, spreading them along the base of the hedge, was a perfect way for the team to keep warm during the coldest of weeks.      

Heavy, Wet Leaves With Ice

A Leafy Mulch At The Base Of The Hedge

Hazel Binders And Chestnut Stakes

Brittle Hazel Binders

The hazel binders that are used to edge the front of the two borders of the Broad walk usually last three years before they become brittle and need replacing. Unfortunately, those that front the first border have deteriorated in just two years since they were put in place, see blog entry 28th April 2016 'Hazel Binding The Front Of The Woodland Border' so now need to be replaced.

Off To The Chipper Pile

Stakes Removed

The old binders and stakes were removed and taken to the chipping pile where they will remain until chipped, the chipped wood will be used as a mulch on some of the woodland borders.

Preparation Table

The hazel binders and chestnut stakes were cut down by the team at the Harcourt Arboretum two weeks ago, see blog entry 6th February 'The Annual Work Trip To University of Oxford's Harcourt Arboretum' and were delivered to the college on Monday. Before the binding can begin the long pieces of chestnut need to be made into stakes by cutting them into foot long lengths and whittling one end into a point, fifty stakes are needed to support the long hazel binders. 

Whittling The Chestnut Stakes

 

Whittling To A Point

Hammering In The New Stakes

New Stakes

The front of the border is cut away with a spade to create a flat edge before the stakes are hammered in with a two foot spacing between them .

Bending The Binders Around The Stakes

With the stakes in place the long hazel binders are interwoven between them, in front-behind-in front-behind all along the border creating a natural looking edge. The last line of the blog entry from April 2016 read "This section will be replaced in three years, spring 2019!", let's hope this time it does last the expected three years and won't need to be replaced until spring 2021!

A New Edge

The New Edge For The First Border

Cutting The Canalside Hedge And Shaping The Evergreens

The Canalside Hedge, View From The College (After Cutting)

For several days the team have been working in the the area behind the sports pavilion, the west side of the college grounds. Armed with bill hooks, secateurs, hedge cutters, loppers and saws, Simon, Joss and Peter reduced the height of the mixed species hedge that forms the college boundary beside the Oxford canal. Six to eight foot of thick, messy, tangled and, in some places, very spiky growth was cut off leaving a very neat, tidy hedge of just three to four foot in height, making it a far more manageable hedge in the future.

The Boundary Hedge, View From The Canalside (After Cutting)

A Neat, Tidy Hedge With Shaped Evergreens Behind

Shaped Evergreens Shrubs Beside The Sports Pavilion

Once the cutting of the canal side hedge had finished, Ali and Graham moved into the area and, using a hedge cutter, a long arm hedge cutter, loppers and secateurs, shaped the evergreen shrubs in the border behind it. Having shaped these shrubs they moved on to shape the evergreens in the border to the side of the sports pavilion. With the work on the shrubs complete, Callum and Ady weeded the border and added a wood chop mulch to finish.

Shaped Shrubs And A Wood Chip Mulch

The Continuing Journey Of September's Cuttings

Cuttings Waiting To Be Potted On

Cuttings from the Argyranthemum, Plectranthus, Pelargonium, Fuchsia, Cuphea, Salvia, Osteospermum, Helichrysum and Felicia plants were taken last autumn, see blog entry 22nd September 2017 'A Mist Unit Full Of Cuttings',  and were separated into their individual small pots during the last two weeks of October.  

Rooted Argyranthemum

Gently Teased Apart

Five Rooted Argyranthemum

Tapped out of their pot, the cuttings roots, 5-10 plants in each pot, were gently teased apart and potted up into individual 9x9x10cm pots full of a 50/50 mix of John Innes Compost No1 and a seed compost. These young plants have been growing into these pots for the last four months and are now ready for the next step of their journey from a cutting to a plant in this year's summer display. 

Five Young Plants, October 2017

Rooted Plectranthus

Roots Needing More Space

The cuttings have now out grown these pot, roots now fill the compost and are poking out through the drainage holes desperate to find more space. 

Next Sized Pots

Moving To A Bigger Home

Diamond Into A Square

Tapped out of their pot, home since October, they are each potted up into a larger sized pots, 12x12x12cm. About an inch of compost is placed into the bottom of the bigger sized pot and the young plant is placed into the pot, diamond into the square (see photo above). Compost, the same 50/50 mix, is placed into the gaps and over the top of the root ball then gently firmed in. Placed in rows on the greenhouse staging they are all watered in.

Potting Up

On The Staging

Sensory Overload From The Winter Flowering Shrubs

Top Terrace, Winter Honeysuckle (Lonicera fragrantissima)

The bright colours from the summer flowering perennials and annuals have long gone and the colourful winter berries have all been eaten by the hungry wildlife but now, rather than a visual sensory overload it is the sensory receptors in the nose that are being spoilt by the sweet scent coming from the many winter flowering shrubs in the gardens.

Winter Flowering Honeysuckle (Lonicera fragrantissima)

The Highly Scented Flowers Of Winter Honeysuckle (Lonicera fragrantissima)

The scent that drifts across the top terrace path of the quad is coming from the very fragrant winter flowering honeysuckle, Lonicera fragrantissima, this delicious sweet scent coming from its many creamy white flowers.

View Across The Quad To The Top Terrace

 

Winter Border, 5th May 2010

Another highly scented shrub in the gardens is Daphne bholua 'Jacqueline Postill', the intense fragrant coming from the clusters of soft pink flowers that adorn its evergreen stems. Located in the bottom border of the quad and in the winter border by the path to the Linbury building, the scent actually stops people in their tracks who just have to lean in to the flowers and take a deep breath, inhaling its glorious scent!
The highly scented winter border was created in 2010, see blog entry 5th May 2010 'Three Borders In One Day', and, as can be seen from the photographs, has matured well. With the Daphne, which are now 6-7 feet tall, is Sweet Box (Sarcococca confusa), another evergreen shrub which has many small, sweet scented, white flowers along its stems, it is this combination of the two shrubs together that is creating a sensory overload on the nose in this area of the gardens.
 

5 Years On, Winter Border 5th February 2014

9 Years Later, Winter Border 2018

Daphne bholua 'Jacqueline Postill'

 Sweet Box (Sarcococca confusa)

The scent from the Sarcococca doesn't just stop at the end of the winter border it continues all along the path to the Linbury building. Nine years ago, 10th February 2009, the planting in the Linbury building borders was changed, the dead bamboo were dug out and replaced with Sarcococca and, as can be seen by the following photographs, has created a lighter entrance to the building, not too mention, a highly scented winter pathway. 

10th February 2009 In Front Of The Linbury Building

Digging Out The Bamboo 10th February 2009 In Front Of Linbury Building

9 Years Later, Front Of The Linbury Building, Sweet Box (Sarcococca confusa)

The Annual Work Trip To University of Oxford's Harcourt Arboretum

Cutting Down Silver Birch

Six members of the team and Ben, the student volunteer, spent the morning at the University of Oxford's Harcourt Arboretum cutting down the silver birch, chestnut and hazel that will be used to create the wooden plant supports on the herbaceous border and a new border edge on the lakeside broadwalk respectively. 

Dragging Out The Birch

Splitting in to two groups, one group spent the first few hours working in the silver birch coppice and the other in the sweet chestnut coppice. In the birch coppice the trees that would make the best plant supports were selected, cut down and dragged out to a clearing to be processed. Cutting the tree in to two pieces, the thick, lower part of the trunk that is not needed is put in to a pile that will be chipped or used to create a wood pile wildlife habitat, and the thinner, top halves, which will be used to create the plant supports, placed in to a pile for delivery to the college at a later date. (The stump or stool left in the ground contain dormant buds that will grow, creating new, replacement birch trees.)  In the chestnut coppice the other group were selecting wood that would make good sized stakes to hold the hazel edging.

Processing The Birch

Processed Silver Birch

Silver Birch Coppice

Silver Birch Stumps or Stools

Sweet Chestnut For Stakes

Processed Hazel Rods

After tea break their attention turned from silver birch and chestnut to a small hazel coppice. Selecting the longest, straightest stems, these were cut down and dragged out for processing. Using billhooks the branches and side shoots were removed to leave a clean rod perfect for creating a wooden edge, for last year's coppicing see blog entry 2nd February 2017 'Coppicing Hazel And Silver Birch'

 Hazel Coppice