No Stone Left Unturned

Whilst the ball moves ever closer the garden team continue to tidy the college garden. Ady and Graham spent the morning working on the path leading into the Provost's Garden, an access point to the dining marquee.

Joss works on the banks carefully cutting away the turf to define the top edge, using just a small knife, he painstakingly removes an inch of turf all along the back.

In the afternoon, Ady and Graham join Simon, Kieron and Ali on the Broadwalk who are weeding and raking this path that runs from the Nuffield Lawn to the sports field along the lake edge.

After Two Days

After two days in the Provost's Garden things have changed, the faded rose blooms have been gone, weeds removed and edges tidied and a rather large marquee has been erected. However, behind this marquee a smaller one has also been erected for the catering, marquees in all shapes and sizes are appearing at a staggering rate, seen in numbers on the Nuffield Lawn.

Piles of Steel (Aluminium)

As the gardeners dead head the roses, piles of steel (aluminium) are moved on to the Provost's lawn to construct the huge marquee where the dining will take place on Friday. This is the first of many marquees that will be erected in the gardens as we move closer to the day of the ball.

Wilting

The hundred or so roses now need dead heading in the Provost's Rose Garden. On the hottest day of the year, I think it reached 33 degrees, Simon, Ali and Kieron spent the day chopping off the faded blooms. By the end of the day the roses looked refreshed but the three gardeners were wilting, but they will be back tomorrow, the borders are in need of a weed and the grass needs edging, cooler temperatures please!

Welcome To Worcester College

With Joe completing his apprenticeship and departing for Kenya, we have a new member of our team. Callum, our new apprentice, 19 years old, started yesterday and will be working with us for the next two years, welcome to Worcester College.

The Privet hedge that borders the car park and greenhouse area was last trimmed at the beginning of July last year and was in desperate need of attention. Greeting Ady as he arrived for work everyday, he couldn't stand looking at this messy hedge any longer, so with Kieron, they worked together to bring it back to its wavy best, same time next year hedge?

All Change

Sorry for the lack of blogging, this blogger has been away on holiday visiting gardens and wildlife areas of Yorkshire and Northumberland.
Upon my return the gardening team has had a change in personnel. Joe, having completed his apprenticeship, finished working at the college Tuesday and has gone off to Kenya, volunteering for two months for an agricultural project.
The team have been extremely busy during the last week, roses have been dead headed, lawns fertilized, tree canopies raised, climbers growth reduced along with all the day to day tasks, their focus, the college ball on Friday 1st July.

The Fox

Finally managed to get fairly close to the fox today and, although not the clearest of photos, it let me take these pictures before it ran off again.