The Final Cuts

Ady and Joss spent the day clearing a border at the back of the Nuffield Lawn. Brambles and Elder have been spreading, unchecked, over the last few years but they have now been cut down, dug up and removed. The edge has been redefined and a wood chip mulch, the result of all our chipping, added to suppress future weeds.

The final cuts have been made to all the Campsis, Kiwi and Wisteria in the front quad leaving just the roses on the top terrace and cottages left to be pruned, then it's on to rest of the climbers on the back of the cottages and in the Provost's garden.

Not Long Now

Late November to early December is the perfect time to plant Tulips, but you can carry on until mid January, which is just as well, as we still had 350 Tulips bulbs to plant. Joe, Graham and Ali spent the morning in the orchard planting the bulbs in the area where the grass is allowed to grow long in the summer, the hope is to achieve a similar effect as seen on the Nuffield lawn, floating bowls of colour.

Elsewhere in the gardens fresh shoots have started to appear as the temperature rises, a ten degree increase in one week. December may well have been the coldest in 120 years, the average temperature being -0.6c and the chilliest individual month since February 1986, but this week has seen temps move up to 13c to which nature has responded. Snowdrops and Aconites are now emerging at a rapid pace and causing great excitement amongst the gardening team.

You may remember 12 months ago our mammoth Snowdrop planting sessions under the Hornbeam, Beech and Yew trees on the Nuffield lawn, see blog entry 'Snowdrop Day' 25th February 2010, well it won't be long until we see the fruits of our labour all those months ago.

One Month Early

Ali, Joe and Simon have continued pruning throughout this week as we gradually work our way around the college grounds, slight delays incurred when having to add new wires to walls and re tie stems that have broken free of their restraints.
Joss and his alter ego, Banana Man, having dealt with the Snow Mould on the quad lawn last week, has been adding a late feed to the rest of the lawns to encourage strong root development for the coming year ahead.
Ady and Graham have spent the last few days tidying the area behind the Provost's garden, strimming down all the unruly brambles and bamboo, as well as clearing up the remaining autumn leaf fall.
On a wildlife note, the Kingfisher has been spotted flying low over the lake, and the Goosanders, not expected to be seen until mid February as in the previous two years, have been spotted today on the lake, one month early.

Millwood Market Gardens

For all our readers and followers who have been with us since this blog's start in February 2009, here is a new blog that may be of some interest to you. You may remember Lucy, Lulabelle, our budding apprentice, who, after completing her apprenticeship, left to run her own business 'Millwood Market Gardens', well this is her new blog:
www.millwoodmarketgardens.blogspot.com

First Day of Many

The ladders, long arm pruners and secateurs have been brought out today signifying the start of a long period of pruning, starting with the climbing plants; Wisteria, Campsis and the roses. Graham and Simon, Ali and Joe work together in pairs, in, what can be, a slow process. By the end of a cold and windy day, one Wisteria and two Campsis are complete, hopefully all the climbers will be complete by the end of next week, then it's on to the roses and then the fruit trees taking us to mid March!

It's All Black and Grey

On yet another very cold, grey day, when the sun never came out from behind the clouds, the team spent the day working together in the Cassan Building garden, also known as The Goldfish Bowl. Ali, Joe and Simon cut down the herbaceous plants and attempted to remove an area of Bindweed that, last Summer, tried to take over one of the borders.

Ady and Graham, having started the day by moving a number of very large shrubs from this small garden, rejoined the team to mulch all the borders.

Once all the mulch had been added and the day was drawing to an end, the paths were all washed down and the area left neat and tidy.

The Broadwalk

After being gently eased back into work around the gardens yesterday, the team hit the ground running today. The Winter/Spring border, known as The Broadwalk, needed its annual mulching before all the Hellebore, Snowdrops, Erythronium, Fritillaria and various other bulbs start to flower.

The mulch applied is a mixtures of grass, herbaceous, office paper shredding and leaves from 2009, which, over the last 12 months has been regularly turned, resulting in this lovely dark material.