OxGrow Oxford's Edible Community Garden

"Global Garden"

On July 28th, 20 international students who are attending summer classes with Oxford Tradition, part of the Oxbridge Academic Programs, came down to the garden for an afternoon of work. The sun was shining and we had to be careful to keep ourselves hydrated, but we had a wonderful – and wonderfully productive -afternoon: digging a new bed, designing and creating three triangle no-dig beds, planting our “self-seeding pentagon” garden, painting beautiful signs, tidying existing beds, weeding the squash and melons, weeding the strawberries and beans, (eating the strawberries and peas!), weeding the tomatoes, pruning the tomatoes, fetching compost, watering, harvesting peas, staining the bench, fixing the fence, you name it!  Big thanks to everyone who came out, to the facilitators, and  to the photographers.  It was great fun to trade gardening tips from different countries and dream of the different plants we’d like to try growing – kiwi, anyone?  Hopefully the afternoon sowed the seeds for new edible community gardens in towns around the world!  Thanks again, students. Keep in touch, and come on down to Oxgrow when you’re next in town. – Rosanna

How to prune a tomato: pluck off the shoot that grows between the leaf and the stem. As demonstrated.

Making a "no-dig" bed: first cardboard, then turf, then compost, seeds, water, sun, go!

Digging a garden bed!

A self-seeding pentagon: instead of sowing new seeds each Spring, this one is low maintenance!

Hurray for Summer!