Fledgling Robin

Graham and Ali had company this morning whilst weeding one of the Provost's lodging borders, a fledgling robin, greatly receiving insects and grubs that they disturbed.   

Close Encounter of The Furry Kind

Whilst walking along the broadwalk this morning my eye was caught by something moving at the back of The Broadwalk, it stopped as soon as it realised it had been spotted and there we stood watching each other, a fox watching me watching it.

5, 6, Pick Up Sticks

With the high winds and heavy rain over the last few days, a large amount of tree debris has been brought down all over the college grounds. Two student volunteers started the clearance by raking up the sticks, twigs and branches that had fallen on the Nuffield Lawn, now the team turn their attention to the larger lawned areas in some the college properties. 

Tip Toe Through The Tulips

The weeks of rainfall have not only created the perfect conditions for our newly sown grass seed to germinate but also for the weeds to flourish all over the college borders. Over the last few days Ady, Graham and Ali have been working on the herbaceous border carefully weeding amongst the flowering tulips.

This morning they completed their border weeding, digging out the perennials and hoeing off the newly germinated annual weeds, the new acquired Spintiller clearing the annuals in super quick time.

Before leaving the border and moving onto the next job, the decision was made to start unwrapping the The Japanese Hardy Banana, Musa basjoo. Overnight temperatures have steadily been over 5 degrees centigrade and with the danger of frost subsiding, the top of the winter fleece protection was removed allowing the banana to breath the fresh spring air and feel the warmth of the May sunshine, or maybe that should read, the wetness of the May rain!

What Is It?

Having had a number of tools recently donated to the gardening team, one in particular has caused great interest. An unusual looking tool, but what is it? Its use was uncovered by Ady, a hand cultivator, the bladed wheels are pushed through the soil in a back and forth motion, breaking up the soil and pulling up weeds as it rotates. Looking closer at the tool, an imprint on the shaft shows it is actually called a Spintiller Cultivator, patent New Zealand. The Spintiller was invented by John Michael McCoomb in the 1970's and from the patent info it states:  
"A cultivating implement having freely rotatable tine members mounted on axles set at an angle other than normal to the direction of travel of the implement over the ground, the tine members comprising a plurality of forwardly arcuately curved tines having chisel shaped tips which produce sideways cutting action through the soil as the implement is moved over the ground" 
An interesting tool that has caused great interest and has quickly become a favourite among the team.

Wettest April On Record

Figures released today by The Met Office have confirmed that April 2012 was the wettest in the UK since records began in 1910. This wet month follows the third warmest March since 1910, only beaten by 1938 and 1957. The first two weeks of February were also confirmed as the coldest in the UK for 26 years, a record breaking year so far, but what will May's weather have in store for the gardeners at Worcester College?

Gone Green, Going Green

Two projects that have benefited from the very wet weather that has dominated April are the extension in the orchard and the reclamation of the nursery.

On the 22nd February Joss scattered grass seed over the newly cleared area in the orchard, two months later the bare earth has gone green and the grass has been cut.

The nursery project was finished on the 13th of April with Joss scattering grass seed over the areas that will be the grass paths, in less than a month the grass seed has started to germinate and the bare earth is turning green.