OPEN WEEKEND AT THE OXFORD GARDEN PROJECT, LONGWORTH.

A GAME OF TWO HALVES!

We are now about half way through the makeover to the vegetable garden which will enable us to put on more courses, have more open days and work with even more charities and disadvantaged groups. Half the no-dig, deep beds have been re-edged, half the fruit garden replanted and now in its second and very productive year and half the paths, drive and car park completed.

You are invited to the OGP this weekend to see how we are getting on and also to see first hand our alternative growing techniques, volunteer opportunities, courses and talks. There will be seeds and plants on sale and refreshments available. We will be open from 10.30 – 4pm on Saturday 8^th and Sunday 9^th.

The OGP is a not for profit social enterprise that receives no public funding, working to enable individuals and community groups to grow, cook, preserve, compost and enjoy a low input gardening scheme with environmental benefits. This event is free of charge to enter, although any donations to help us continue our work would be gratefully received.

For more information drop us a line, see our contact page for more information.

The beginning of June has finally brought some sunshine and dry weather in Oxfordshire, although the air and soil temperatures remain low.

The heat in the sun is putting further stress on already challenged plants, drying them out at a time when the soil temperature has not allowed many of them to make good supporting root systems. There is a clear difference in our plants between those directly sown into the ground compared to those raised in modules (rootrainers in our case) and then planted out with a more established root system.

This is further exacerbated by the temperature differential between day and night. In the last week thermometers placed on the soil have reached 25 degrees during the day and fallen to 4 degrees overnight. This huge swing makes it very difficult for the plants to get into a sustainable growth and germination pattern, so if your parsnips and carrots haven’t come up yet, you are not alone! And it isn’t too late to sow more now, the sowing times on the packet or in the books are only a guide and in such a late season the plants will do their best to catch up. If you can sow in modules, help the soil temperature to increase (add dark mulch, cover the soil prior to sowing or use cloches or fleece after sowing) or pre-germinate the seed you will give your plants the best chance to succeed.

The affect of this temperature fluctuation can clearly be seen in the difference in growth and maturity of a crop of peas and broad beans, all the same variety and planted out at the same time, one batch outside and one in a polytunnels. The peas in the polytunnel have been cropping for 3 weeks those outside are yet to produce any significant flowers.

Temperature fluctuations have also caused problems for the sweet peas, slowing growth and causing some bud drop (flower heads dropping off the stalk before the flower opens), but they are at last flowering, filling the warming air with their wonderful scent. We use a seep hose, fed from a rainwater collector, buried between the rows to keep the soil permanently moist, which is necessary on our sandy soil as sweet peas do not cope well with being dry at the roots, especially if the weather does get hot. As we also grow these for the blooms we pinch out all the side shoots and tendrils, ours are supported with split rings so they do not need to support themselves with their tendrils, so it is a waste of plant energy. Also, if plants become congested, especially with side shoots, their tendrils often wrap around the unopened flower stalks and distort their shape.

The first weekend in June saw Yvonne and I on the experts panel for a gardeners question time at the re-launched Hatfield House Garden Show, a magnificent setting for a quality show and at a time when the know garden, the west garden and woodland garden, which were free for show visitors to walk through, were magnificent, especially in the late afternoon sunshine when the light in the woodland garden was at its best. The late spring, coupled with last year’s cool, wet summer, seems to have generated the best bloom year I can remember. The woodland garden at Englefield House, near Reading (open to the public most days) is absolutely stunning at the moment, with the Davidia Involucrata (handkerchief tree, and this one is one of the most mature specimens I know) absolutely covered in blossom. Even the relatively young specimen at Hatfield has good blossom in a tree often shy to bloom when young.

Our honey bees continue to grow in numbers, one colony showing signs of preparing to swarm, enabling us to split the colony to increase our colonies to 3 (still a long way to go to build them back to the 2011 numbers!). There has also been a lot of solitary and bumblebee activity, particularly amongst the fruit, although I have been following a number of blogs from around the country, which state that their observations of bees are showing very low numbers, a worrying trend. Ours have been busy working on the new cordon apples put in earlier this year, which seem to have taken well and blossomed prolifically, with a good fruit set. Unfortunately we will probably have to remove most of the apples to make sure we do not stress the young trees too much before they become established.

We are making steady progress with the makeover of the garden to facilitate more courses and visitors, for those of you that would like to come and see how we are getting on, get more information on our courses and talks, see first hand some of our alternative growing techniques and join us for a cuppa and a piece of cake we are holding an open weekend from 10.30-4pm, Saturday 8^th and Sunday 9^th June. Entrance is free, but we would be grateful for any donations to help keep the project going and to complete the refurbishment, as we receive no public funding whatsoever. There will also be vegetable, house and perennial plants for sale.

Mayday is here, and with it some signs of spring, but even more signs of confused climate patterns and plants. The traditional Mayday celebrations in Oxford saw a severe frost greeting the dawn and a temperature of -2c; by 10am a clear blue sky allowed the sun to bring the temperature up to 18c, which plummeted towards freezing again once the sun went down. A 20-degree fluctuation in temperature over 24 hours doesn’t give any plant the conditions needed to thrive in spring, and the plants are behaving accordingly. The apple blossom is just about to open, 3-4 weeks later than usual, but the beech hedge has come into leaf 1-2 weeks earlier than usual (usual being the average dates of the last 5 years). The Asparagus finally came up, then abruptly stopped and the few spears that have appeared have not elongated or tried to open their fronds. Most of the vegetables overwintering or just planted out in the deep beds are marking time, hopefully producing a good root system, but with little growth above ground. In contrast those in the polytunnels are doing well, with the first peas and broad beans set on the plants and a wide variety of salad leaves for the picking. In the greenhouse, which is kept frost free, the tomatoes, peppers and aubergines are doing well and are ready for planting out as the first tomato flowers are just showing. We have planted early and salad potatoes in the polytunnels and in bags as the ground is still cold, but the soil temperature is starting to rise gradually and not showing such a sharp drop overnight, but the night air temperature is still very low, so if you have sown or planted outside have fleece or newspapers ready to cover young plants to stop the temperatures from fluctuating too much at night.

Remember, it is still early in the season; there is still plenty of time to get plants and seeds in, and far too early to plant frost tender plants such as courgettes, dwarf and runner beans, tomatoes and cucumbers in all but the mildest areas.

Here in Oxfordshire we have had a couple of warm (ish) days at last, which has brought out the Blackthorn and early plum blossom, but very little else is moving. Still no sign of the Asparagus, now a good 2 weeks behind the norm.

It has just been warm enough to have a quick look at the honey bees and make sure they still have enough food, and have been very pleased to see that the two surviving colonies seem to be building up well, both have good numbers of eggs, larvae and sealed brood and have several frames of sealed honey in store. The workers are flying well and bringing in pollen, so all should be well for these colonies.

“Always look on the bright side of life…” and gardening! The late season has given us the opportunity to plant the cordon apple trees that we thought would have to wait until the autumn. In addition we have completed all the fruit planting and have containerised the Oxfordshire Apple varieties that were grafted for us by Brogdale, ready for the new mini-orchard going in this winter.

It has also given us time to start the refurbishment of the no-dig deep beds in the vegetable garden. The previous beds have been in place for 28 years and the wooden surrounds have finally rotted. We have been careful to disturb the soil as little as possible while replacing the wooden frames. We are about a third through this process, thanks to the help of several volunteers. If anyone else would like to come and help the process go even faster you will be very welcome!

Because the season is so late we will not be advertising any new courses until mid May. All the current courses are full, but we have been asked to add some more basic courses, so watch out for availability for courses on the basics of organic growing, basic vegetable growing, how to look after your soil, growing in small spaces, composting and wormeries, sowing and propagating.

This week we attended the annual Plant Heritage meeting which gave us the opportunity to catch up with holders of some of the National Collections of plants and also to discuss the importance of passing on our knowledge, a theme echoed by Alan Titchmarsh, the guest speaker at the event.

Well, its 1st April, the calendar says its Easter and that British Summer Time is here, but don’t be fooled into gardening by the calendar!

Easter is traditionally the start of the gardening season and often the time we are expected to plant potato tubers, but unless you are gardening in a particularly mild area the soil is still far too cold and the nights too frosty to do this now.

There is a story, possibly apocryphal, that to ensure the soil temperature was warm enough to plant into, the gardener in Victorian times would remove his trousers and sit on the soil to test the temperature! Personally I prefer to use a digital thermometer, or even better, the low input alternative, do the hounds find the soil warm enough to lie on.

The season is definitely well behind this year. I keep a record of a number of events that tell me spring really is here, this includes the first cut from the Asparagus served with a soft boiled goose egg, which for the last 3 years (including our last two cold and snowy winters) has been on the first of April, but this year there isn’t even a stirring from the Asparagus yet. Similarly, there is virtually no growth from any overwintering weeds, both facts emphasise that the soil temperature just isn’t ready to support new growth yet, so don’t rush your sowings, they will catch up, even if they are later than it indicates on the packet or in your gardening book, they are only guides for an “ideal” season and are no substitute for your observation. The exception to this will be those plants that need a long season to mature such as Aubergines and peppers, but in any case these should be started off indoors in modules. If you do want to start sowing and have space in a greenhouse or cold frame then virtually all crops, with the exception of long root carrots and parsnips, can be started off in modules. In fact I start most of my crops in rootrainers for planting out once conditions are favourable. I currently have peas, broad beans, brassicas of all types, turnips, onions (from seed), leeks, and salad crops all coming on well in rootrainers, and because of the design of these the crops will not be checked in any way once they are planted out.

Easter is also traditionally linked with fluffy chicks, and we had a successful hatching of Welsummer chicks right on schedule

Apologies for the scarcity of courses and postings during 2012, a mixture of major changes at our site in Longworth, running lecture and guided tours overseas, major consultancy and broadcasting commitments not to mention a rather difficult growing season kept me away from the computer, I hope to remedy this for this season.

The year so far has been a rather mixed bag, a fairly cold but largely dry winter here in Oxfordshire has seemed to go on forever, but there are signs of spring, despite the snow now in March! The rhubarb grown in “grow-sacs” and overwintered in cold sheds and unheated polytunnels has been yielding well since the end of January. This method gives us early crops without the need for forcing and blanching, giving tasty stems of a good colour and sweetness.

The end of February saw a few warm (-ish) days, when the bees made the best of the early snowdrops, aconite and crocus, although they have decided not to venture out much in March. Hopefully there will be some warmth soon so they can replenish their food supply. There was evidence of pollen being brought in to the hives in late February, so there should be young brood emerging soon.

Although 2012 was not the easiest of seasons we still cropped most things well, if somewhat late. The tomatoes and peppers appreciated the shelter of the polytunnel, although the tomatoes did succumb to blight in September.

Sweetcorn, somewhat unexpectedly, was some of the best we have had in years, and squashes, especially the butternuts did surprisingly well.

So, overall, a late but reasonably abundant season, despite the challenges. More soon!

A list of all the courses lined up for 2013 are now available to view at: http://oxfordgardenproject.co.uk/courses

Check it out and get involved!

Hope to see you soon,

- the OGP

The Edible Garden Show - the UK’s award-winning national ‘Grow-Your-Own’ event - returns to Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire, from 15-17 March.

Bursting with innovative products, top exhibitors, home-grown produce, food, livestock and celebrity speakers, it’s an essential date for the Oxford gardener’s diary.

Award winning TV presenter James Wong will share his passion for growing exotic fruit and vegetables, author, writer and TV presenter Alys Fowler will give a mouth watering talk on creating delicious salads from herbs and edible flowers and popular Gardeners Question Time panellist Bob Flowerdew will talk a load of old rot about compost.

The Oxford Garden Project will be there in force on stand 251 and Robert will be speaking at the daily Question Time panel in the Experts Theatre.

Tickets are available now at www.theediblegardenshow.co.uk/visiting/buy-tickets or by calling the ticket hotline on 0844 338 8001.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Hello again.

It’s a been a while, but The Oxford Garden Project is back online and we’ve got a lot to talk about. We’re busy getting ready for the sunshine so the new site has yet to reach its full splendour, but we’re working hard to turn it into a true reflection of what we’re up to: part notebook, part resource, part advice giver and all useful.

It’s nice to have you back. Don’t be a stranger now.

Robert, Yvonne and the Team