Blog

29 May 2024

The weather has continued to play havoc with the gardens in the last month. The wet weather continues, and the growing season is rapid. It seems like a period when we are chasing our own tails a bit. No sooner have we completed maintaining an area within college, it grows as your back is turned.

The last few weeks have been tricky. The quiet period for exams stops us doing exactly what we want to do in a time when the growing season keeps us on our toes the most. The good thing about the wet weather is at least we have not had to rush around watering the plants, trying to keep them alive.

The team has been stretched this year trying to complete some small projects, such as the landscaping for the swimming pool and the Community Garden. This has meant that it is all hands on deck at this time.

As gardeners, we must remind ourselves to enjoy the gardens too. We have been delighted with the planting beds around the new buildings this year. They have really started to establish themselves nicely and look as if the plants have been there for a while. It is exciting to see the plants fill out and give us such a good show. It is always a relief when this works, rather than just being an imagined idea.

The tennis courts on the Paddock have remained popular and it is nice to see so many people enjoying the gardens when the sun occasionally comes out.

The Community Garden building will continue after the quite period ends, and we will work at this across the remainder of the summer, so that the students can take full advantage from next academic year. It is an exciting prospect and I hope that the areas get some good use soon enough. There will be a trial for some hot composting bins in this area. This will give the students the opportunity to dispose of food waste such as vegetable peelings to be turned into compost. We have also installed water butts for rainwater harvesting, so we are looking at a greener approach to sustainable gardening.

It is also the time of year for starting to fill the borders from our own nurseries from the Garden Department. We do spend a lot of time and effort across the year taking cuttings and growing items from seed. It is great to be able to use our own plants to produce more. This cuts down on extra plastic use for pots, air miles for distances the plants must travel, and time taken to collect the plants off site. We use our own compost produced here in college to pot on the plants, so sustainably we feel we are heading in the right direction.

The meadows also look fantastic. The wildflowers are starting to really grow well, and we should get an excellent display this year. Some of the wildflowers in North Court have grown as a result from us harvesting the wildflower seeds from the bales of hay, donated to us from King’s College. Each bale of hay contains around 1.5kg of wildflower seed. This is another example of how working collegiately can benefit us all.

All we need now is some sunshine.

Best wishes.

Brendon Sims, Head Gardener

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