Winter Work

By Matt Currie, Technical Officer (Operations)

Photo of the landscape at Cox's Corner, University Parks

With Christmas now behind us, all the Parks team are working hard to tidy up all of our gardens and get ready for the spring. People often believe there is nothing to do in the garden during the winter, but in fact it is a critical and busy time. 

The main jobs we are undertaking include: 

Photo of gardeners Tom and Tim at Cox's Corner, University Parks
  • Seasonal pruning
  • Weed removal
  • Soil cultivation
  • Edge reinstatement
  • Adding mulch
  • Cutting back ground cover
  • Moss and algae removal 

Our gardeners Tom, Tim and Stephen have been hard at work at Cox’s Corner – you can see Tom and Tim pictured right.

 In times past this area was the main dump for the section, so perennial weeds are quite a problem. The planting is designed to provide winter interest, including Dogwood (Cornus), Scarcococca (Sweet Box) and Mahonia among others shrubs. The Chinodoxia and Scila bulbs are just starting to emerge under the Salix, so will be looking great in a few weeks.

The work we do now really helps give us a good head-start in the spring. Over the coming weeks we will add several hundred tonnes of compost mulch, which we make from our green waste. This helps to conserve moisture, suppress weeds and add nutrients to the soil.

We will also be carrying out some new planting in various places to improve the look of the gardens for everyone to enjoy.

Contact us


+44 (0) 1865 2 82040

university.parks@admin.ox.ac.uk