Annual Work

This is the biggest single task in the annual cycle of work in the gardens. We don’t start until the bulk of the leaves have fallen, so that each area has to be done only once and, because of this, the start date is always uncertain. We try to make a start in December but sometimes it doesn’t happen until January. This is not a good time because people have other things to do as Christmas approaches and, at this time of year, the weather can play a big part. This job is invigorating and thoroughly enjoyable on a bright, crisp morning but can be completely miserable in the wet and so we don’t work if it is raining. On top of this, work has been brought to a halt by snow for several weeks in some years, so it can easily stretch into March.

In 2009/10 we acquired two mechanical blowers and have used these to blow the leaves into piles in advance of the working party so that it is not necessary to rake large areas. This takes up a lot of time for the few people who do the blowing but has saved a lot of time and effort for the working parties.

If you come to help you can regulate the amount of effort you put into this work to suit your own personal level of fitness. In the recent past we had one member in his nineties who regularly helped with this job, only giving up when his doctor advised him to do so. It is very sociable work and pauses are frequent. Rakes seem to be designed to be leaned on!

The way we do the job is to rake the piles of leaves onto sheets and then those who feel fit enough drag them off and hide them in prepared storage areas among the laurels.

Edward demonstrates the correct use of a rake 

This, incidentally, produces large quantities of excellent leaf-compost which you can take for your garden, free of charge.

What we do, when and why

Once a year, we work our way all around the gardens cutting off the previous year’s growth from the laurel bushes with hedge-trimmers to stop them growing too big. It’s important to do this job every year because it means that the cuttings aren’t woody and can be left among the bushes to rot down and don’t present a problem to dispose of (See below). It’s also important to do this in the early part of the year after we have filled the leaf stores among the bushes as, if leaves are put on top of them, the cuttings are apt to take root producing more laurels!

We try to complete this job before the end of March to minimise disturbance of nesting birds.

A bit of history and background

The laurel bushes which grow all around the Oval gardens are very much a mixed blessing. While their luxuriant growth provides a lush green setting in all seasons, they grow so quickly in height and spread that, in the past, they threatened to overwhelm everything else, encroaching on the open areas and obstructing lines of sight, which created a closed-in feeling. They are useful in that provide hiding places in which we can dump the large quantities of leaves that we rake from the grassed areas every winter but they also gave cover to all sorts of undesirable activities such as teenage smoking and drinking parties, which in turn generated litter and occasionally a noise nuisance, and, at one time for an extended period, wild camping.

 In the past, the major obstacle to reducing the size of the laurels was the problem of disposing of the cuttings that are so bulky that even a rubbish skip would be quickly filled. The bushes grew up to 10m tall and also grew outwards as well as upwards and, wherever a lateral branch touched the ground, it would put down roots, spreading into the grassed areas. Only when heavy duty chippers came on the scene was a viable solution available. In 2003 a contractor was engaged to reduce the height of the bushes all around the gardens and to remove the cuttings at a cost in excess of the Association’s annual income but unfortunately this wasn’t followed up by reducing their spread as we intended and, in a very short time, the problem was as bad as ever.

A few of us kept up the struggle but without really making much impression on the problem, though we gradually learned that we had to cut very severely. It was no use trying to leave a cover of green foliage. The bushes had to be reduced to a few bare stumps. In October 2011 however we had assistance from a platoon of 45 Junior Soldiers from the Army Foundation College who were working for the Duke of Edinburgh Award. They demolished the huge bushes which ran most of the way along the side of Park Drive in 5 hours intensive work and left a pile of cuttings which were chipped and taken away by a contractor at a four-figure cost. This time we did follow-up by digging out the roots where they had spread sideways, thus reclaiming a strip of up to two metres of lost open area.

This gave us the impetus to extend this treatment to the rest of the bushes in other areas and, over the following year or two, they were all reduced to a manageable size which we have maintained by annual trimming.

This is a one-off job for a working party walking around the gardens in the spring before the grass-cutting season starts. It normally takes only a couple of hours to pick up any fallen branches or sizeable twigs which might otherwise damage the mower. Of course it is helpful, if you come across that sort of debris when walking through the gardens at any time during the cutting season, to pick it up and throw it under the hedge or into the bushes.

This is the only gardening task which demands a degree of commitment and dedication from those who volunteer to do it and we have been lucky, for a number of years), to have had a stable team of nine or ten people who have lived up to their commitment.

The gardens are divided into four areas for this purpose. Philippa’s Drive isn’t included because the ground there is too uneven for the sit and ride mower. Instead that area is cut with a hand-pushed mower. 

The areas to be cut and the team for the 2024 season

The aim is that each of those areas is cut every week at the start of the season and fortnightly towards the end. The season runs from the end of May to the beginning of October, depending upon weather conditions. If the annual programme is carried out in full, this means that, typically, 66 “cuts” might be done in the season and therefore that each team member would do 6 or 7 cuts.

In practice a good measure of flexibility is applied. In dry weather the grass doesn’t grow quickly and sometimes a cut would simply be a waste of time and fuel, so the person who’s turn it is might decide not to cut that area at that time and agree with the person who’s turn it is next which of them will do it in the next round.

On the other hand, if the weather is warm and wet, the grass grows very fast. Cutting long grass can be difficult and risks wearing out the mower drive belt and, in these conditions, it is particularly important that any area is not left too long before being cut again. If the anyone is unable to do their scheduled turn they should arrange to do a swap with another member of the team.

Hedge cutting takes place around the end of July. By doing it then, we get away with cutting the hedges just once a year. If the weather is favourable and enough people come out to help, the whole job can be completed in two Sunday morning sessions, with a little extra input from a few individuals mid-week.

The working party consists of a number of people wielding electrical hedge-trimmers, ideally supported by at least as many sweeping-up the cuttings.

Bring gloves and a sweeping brush if you have a suitable one.

Before and after the annual trim