Full green ahead for the nature garden!
The verdict on progress in the nature garden is in! Alex Little, the
horticulturalist who kindly provided the original designs, declared it the
eighth wonder of the world, or at least I think that’s what he said. There
was a helicopter flying over at the time.
One thing Alex was unequivocally complimentary about was the volunteer
posse who came to plant up the perennials a few weeks back. He was
impressed to see so many taking part – encouraged by some glorious
sunshine!
If you’re taking a stroll in the garden, you’ll see the individual plants are
quite small, but (Alex noted) this gives them an advantage over larger potgrown specimens which may have become over-accustomed to their pot and
fail to flourish when released into the wild. Ours should develop fairly fast
as we go from spring to summer, and adapt well to their new surroundings.
Inevitably there’ll be a few failures – the gooseberries in particular seem a
bit reluctant – but in the long run we’ll have more robust stock.
Preparing the wildflower meadow
It was hard to miss the display of wildflowers outside Autumn Leaves (at the
bottom of the High Street) last year. We’re hoping to replicate that in the
nature garden. The secret? Really thorough preparation. Wildflower
seedlings can’t compete with a thick thatch of grass, so it’s important to
remove as much of the green stuff as possible. Not forgetting to bury a dung
-filled cow horn under a new moon …
To this end if you’re using a mini-digger at any point in the next few weeks
could we borrow it for an hour to level off the ground? Then we’ll be ready
to rotovate.
On 23 April we’d like your help raking the bare soil to create a very fine
tilth. If conditions are right (i.e. not too windy) we’ll be able to sow and
tread in. Come along from 10am if you can – there’ll be cake!
Signing off
The last stage of establishing the garden will involve putting in a sign, a
wooden bench, and a new gate near the bus stop. There’s also a dead hedge
under construction in the woodland section – dry sticks piled between stakes
to create extra habitat – and more mulch-spreading to do.
If you want to get involved, or have ideas for events or new features, please
email us: support@nature.garden.co.uk Otherwise, go ahead and enjoy the
space as the fancy takes you. Hopefully there’ll be lots to see and enjoy.
Kieron
On behalf of the Nature Garden Volunteers
kieronhumph@gmail.com

Exciting news just in: the next order of plants for the nature garden is on its
way (from Bampton, west of Oxford – we keep it local if we can). This time
it’s a bumper batch of more than 400 perennials, including honeysuckle,
foxgloves, ferns, yarrow, bugloss and meadow crane’s bill.
We’d really appreciate your help getting these lovelies safely stowed in the
soil. You can volunteer on Saturday March 12 and Sunday March 11 from 10
am.
This is the last big push (can you tell I’ve been watching This is going to
hurt) to get the greenery in the garden established, coupled with
wildflower seed-sowing next month.
After that there’s a new gate and a sign to install, and the garden will be
ready to receive visitors! Obviously it’ll take a while for the plants to get
established, but there are already bulbs poking through and buds on the
hedging plants.
Another welcome sighting earlier this month was a mistle thrush chortling in
the chestnut. I’m told one of its nicknames is the ‘stormcock’ because it
starts trying to pair up before winter is properly over. It’s on the British
Trust for Ornithology’s red list of birds of conservation concern, so let’s
hope it finds the food and habitat it needs locally.
Verging on the meticulous
Cutting verges costs a lot of money and turns a potentially productive strip
of land into a desert, albeit a green one.
In recognition of this, miniature roadside nature reserves have been
springing up all over the country, including about a dozen across
Oxfordshire. Have you spotted one? They’re a great way to support
pollinator populations and cut down on the bills we have to pay through our
council tax.
Now our county councillor, Sally Povolotsky, is working to make it easier to
arrange for verge-mowing operations to be suspended, and for local groups
to manage the land in a more sustainable way. Chilton Road is a good
candidate for this in our area. Turning the verge (on the left as you go up
the hill) into a bank of flowers and longer grasses would be relatively
straightforward and safe to do as there’s no longer traffic there.
We’d need to wait until the road closure works are complete before starting
work, but if there’s support for the idea then at least we could kick off a
discussion. If you’re interested in getting involved please let me know at
kieronhumph@gmail.com
Kieron