School Oak Bed
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The school bed is tucked up in the corner above and to the north of North Glebe under the large oak in the school's 'forest school'. It is 120 m2 in area :
This bed is totally shaded by the school's oak with some help from a hazel growing in the bed. The topsoil is excellent, being almost pure leaf mould, but it still lies on top of the clay subsoil and is not that thick. In winter it is quite a wet bed because of the sub-surface water that drains down from the field to the west but in the summer it is in the rain shadow of the oak so quite dry.
All of the glebe land had been abandoned years before we took over in 2015. It was a mass of brambles with nettles, bindweed, bracken etc. that have been slowly tackled over the following years. The bed is still [2019] almost empty while we keep fighting the bramble seedlings and bracken. Some Gillenia trifoliata have been planted where they can enjoy speckled sunlight and further back are various drought-tolerant ferns [yes, they do exist!]. The back of the bed to the north has been taken for maintenance : it is where the compost heaps and storage area are.
Full details of the plants can be found in the School Oak Bed plant list and the context of this area within the garden can be found on the Plan and Areas page.
