North Easterly Wind

Chilled to the bone, that's how the team felt after a day of pruning the roses in the Provost's Rose Garden. A bitterly cold north easterly wind, no sunshine and a highest temperature of just six degrees, but we managed to prune and feed all the roses.

Last Panel In

Day three in the garden and all that remained was the last panel and post to be put in place. The panel had to be cut to a width of 54 inches, thank you to Richard from the maintenance team for doing this for us. Once the last old post was removed and replaced the final panel was slotted into place, job done.

All But One

The delivery arrived early this morning allowing the team to start the erection of the two new fences. Splitting into two teams, I don't think it was a race or a competition to see who could put up their fence the fastest or the straightest (or was it Simon?)

Simon worked with Joss and Ady (experienced in putting up fencing) whilst Kieron, master builder, worked with Ali and Joe (who had never put a fence up in their lives!)

Graham, who worked with both teams, also had the unenviable task of spending hours armed with the Kango chisel removing a three foot iron bar from three feet of cement, unfortunately it was in the exact spot a fence post needed to go, great work Graham.

By the end of another very industrious day, all but one panel and one fence post had been put in, but both teams had managed straight, level fencing, a draw I think. (Great experience and training for Ali and Joe too)

"It Was A Good Prep Day"

Apart from the upkeep of the college grounds the team also manage outside sites, one of which was in urgent need of our attention.

Over the years the fencing on both boundary lines of this property have fallen apart and in desperate need of replacing, but first the old panels and posts needed to be removed.

The old, brittle panels came down easily but the posts, well whoever put them in never intended for them to ever be taken out!
Pick axes, grab axes, spades and a Kango chisel, blood, sweat but no tears, were all used to remove the posts.

The posts were not the only thing to put up a fight not to be removed. An old tree stump also stubbornly held onto the ground with every fibre of its being until after an hour the team released from its stronghold.

By the end of the day, the team left with the garden prepared for the delivery of all the new posts and panels tomorrow morning, "It was a good prep day" Simon said as he closed the door behind us.

A Welcome Wet Day

Wet days are welcomed by the team, a chance to work inside, allowing us to complete tasks that are left for days like these.
Ady and Joss spent the day in the tool sheds adding more brackets to the walls to hang our tools in a more orderly fashion.
Joe, Ali and Graham spent the time repotting last autumns cutting from 3 inch pots to 1 litre pots, the hardier plants then moved to the Peach House.

One Down

This blogger, having spent three days last week under a duvet with the flu, returned to work. The work in the orchard has now been completed for another year, a large pear tree the last to be reduced in height with a number of branches removed.
Another job completed last week was the tidying of the Peach House. Joe and Graham spent a day preparing this unheated glasshouse for the spring, ready now for the first plants to be moved form the warmer glasshouse to start the hardening off process (acclimatising pampered plants for their move to the big outdoors!)

A Year Has Passed

A year ago the team, plus three student volunteers, spent time enlarging the area of snowdrops on the Nuffield Lawn, see blog entry 'Snowdrop Day', 25th February.
A year has now passed and we are reaping the reward of our hard work with a stunning display of white underneath the Beech, Yew and Hornbeam, couldn't be happier with our efforts a year ago.