Mowing Through The Orchard

Last year the weather produced a number of record breaking extremes, March being the third warmest since 1910 which had followed the coldest two weeks in February for 26 years. This year the extremes have continued with the freezing temperatures in March making it the UK's joint second coldest since records began, only March 1962 was colder.
Today the sun came out and the weather did actually feel like spring had finally begun. Simon brought the mower out for the first cut of the path through the orchard, the daffodils starting to flower, birds building their nests and butterflies seen, has the winter finally gone?, hope so.

Three Days On The Platform

Returning from the Easter break, the team have spent the last three days working on the platform of the Sainsbury building. Repointed back in September 2012, see blog entries 'Sainsbury Building Platform' 6th September and 'Platform Repointed' 18th September, new planting holes were also created and it is because of these new holes that the team have returned to the platform for the last three days.

Kieron, Callum, Joss and Graham spent Tuesday digging out the holes of all the hardcore. Not an easy task, the hardcore had to be placed in bags, dustbins and trugs and carried up the steps away from the platform and down more steps to the nearest place the trailer could be parked.

The guys, joined by Ady and Simon, had, by lunch on Wednesday, carried three to four tonnes of hardcore from the platform. Holes emptied, the next step was to fill them all with soil for planting. 

Three to four tonnes of hardcore out meant three to four tonnes of soil carried in. The soil, a combination of leaf mould, sharp sand, horticultural grit and top dressing, manually mixed using shovels.

Joined by Ali, the whole team were now working together on the platform. Loading up the trugs and dustbins with the soil they had to carry them up and down the steps to the platform.

Pouring tonnes of soil into the holes and mixing tonnes of soil, by Thursday most of the holes were ready to be planted.

As the last few holes were being filled, Callum, Graham and Ali began planting. Kniphofia, Molinia (Ornamental Grass), Sedum, Lavender 'Munstead' and 'Hidcote' (kindly donated by Mr Beardmore), Geraniums and Phlomis. Further plants will be added over the coming weeks to add to the new display.

A very labour intensive three days spent working on the platform but hugely rewarding, a beautifully restored area overlooking the lake.

Sowing Seeds And Pricking Out

The first of this years seeds, those that are slower to germinate and grow, were sown a month ago, see blog entry 'It's Cold Outside', 22nd February 2013. This morning, Ali, Crystal and Anna sowed all the faster germinating seeds such as Cosmos, Nicotiana, Thunbergia, Tagetes and Gazania. By lunch time the mist unit was full, the left side with todays sowings and the right with those from February, the first of which, the Pelargoniums have germinated and grown sufficiently to be pricked out today.

From Decking To Shingle

 

Following an afternoon of education at the Oxford Botanic Gardens yesterday, Kieron, Ali, Graham and Anna returned to the project they started in the morning. With all the rotten wood removed to the skip, the area was raked level in preparation for the next step, shingle.

The first sheet of weed suppressing membrane was laid in the far corner and the first three wheelbarrow loads of, what would eventually be, a few tonnes of shingle spread on top. Whilst the corner was being worked on, Kieron removed a layer of bricks from around the drain to drop its height, resetting the frame and replacing the cover.

Two further lengths of membrane were then laid over the soil and pegged down using biodegradable turf pegs.

The rest of the shingle was then spread over the membrane to create a new, low maintenance area of shingle, an amazing transformation in just two mornings!

A Visit To The University Of Oxford Botanic Gardens

 

(R-L) Simon, Ali, Kieron, Anna, Callum, Graham, Joss, Ady

The team spent the afternoon visiting the University of Oxford Botanic Garden. Thank you Tom for the very enjoyable tour, a pleasure as always.

Breaking Up Decking

 

In the back garden of one of the college properties is an area of decking that has become rotten and unsafe.

Kieron, Ali, Graham and Anna spent the morning cutting up the decking boards with a Makita reciprocating saw and then smashing it up with sledge hammers.

Once the top had been demolished, Simon joined them with the chainsaw to cut up the inner framework consisting of the long joists and the shorter noggins.

All the old, rotten wood was removed to the skip and, due to a planned visit to the University of Oxford Botanic Gardens in the afternoon, the team will have to return tomorrow morning to complete the transformation from an area of decking to a shingle garden.

Hazel Binders And Shingle

The team returned to the Broadwalk this morning, not just to complete the weaving of the new hazel binders, but to add a top dressing of 10 tonnes of shingle to the path. Once again the New Holland tractor with the grab attachment was used to break up the compacted path before the shingle was spread on it. It was only three years ago that 11 tonnes of shingle was added to the Broadwalk as a top dressing, see blog entry '11 Tonnes Of Shingle', 10th February 2010, where does it all go?

By the end of the day the weaving was complete with a new, clean shingle path in front of it, only the far end of the Broadwalk still needs new shingle, another 3 to 4 tonnes are due to be delivered on Wednesday.