DRARA Environment Action Group – Green Flash No. 32, April 2012   Saving water in the garden If you are interested in saving water,coping with the hosepipe ban which is now in place in our area, or just saving money, the...

2012  CROSS OVER March 20 2012 05:14 GMT   Venus following Jupiter Mars following later

14:41:59 18 March 2012 : New Garden created in postcode TA19 | User: BrianE A Mile stone  Now we have 174 registered gardens, and 101 of them are 'active', ie they have registered sightings. There have been 2173 sightings o...

Ok lets share a vision. And for a moment consider the land, the earth. its expression of life. Running through the seasons, show after show, a host to all comers, providing and stimulating life into life. honouring the water, that essence o...

Having finally turned 40 I can now relax and stop worrying. It is lent and so having digested the pancakes I am giving up worrying for 40 days and 40 nights. Will I survive? I don't know. Am I worried. Oh no, certainly not!   G...

102-104 St Mary' Road, Oxford OX4 1QD http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&tab=wl The six participants of the Urban Permaculture Course, ‘Farming the City Block’, will present their design which aims to get the mos...

102-104 St Mary' Road, Oxford OX4 1QD http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&tab=wl The six participants of the Urban Permaculture Course, ‘Farming the City Block’, will present their design which aims to get the mos...

Urban Permaculture Course, 'Farming the City Block' Today we began the process of auditing the City Block bounded by Hurst St: Bullingdon Rd: St Mary's Rd: Leopold St. We did St Marys Rd and haqd good responce, getting 10 forms ...

We joined the Permaculture Association this year after I attended the London Permaculture Festival in Camden. There I met Andy Goldring and we talked about Gaiaveda and the ecocentrus project. I specifically talked about the idea of Farming the...

Over the years I have been very interested in studying the city block as a unity of urban ecology. It was one of the reasons for the development of ecocentrus, which in many ways was concieved over dinner by Ali and I in a flat on the edge of H...

This summer my wife Anna and I decided to launch a new business GAIAVEDA 'in search of mother earth'. The purpose of which is to pull together the various threads of our lives into a single work and give us the vehical to continue our s...

It has been a rich and full filling summer, with many delights and quite a few struggles. . Today we jumped a neighbours fence to lighten the heavy load on a plum tree and marvelled at the bountuful early apple harvest.    htt...

http://www.bigbutterflycount.org/   Butterfly populations are also seriously dropping, Take a look and sign up.   Matt

The ecologsit online has published a tidy summery of garden wildlife.  http://www.theecologist.org/green_green_living/gardening/958724/top_10garden_wildlife.html

Through my work, studies, friends and family I have come to know a host of experts and enthusiasts. This site depends on the input of its participants. So more than simply registering your sightings and uploading photos of your gardens, I want ...

Most of you will know that bee populations have been taking a hit in recent years. Collonies of honey bees across europe and the US have been collapsing. There is debate around the causes which include pests and disease and certain pesticides. ...

Harlequin Ladybirds are recent arrivals on these shores. Originally from Asia, they were introduced to the USA to act as a biological pest control, but they got out of control themselves and began to feast on many beneficial insects. They were ...

Since our 'soft launch' on Sunday on  Oxford Radio, we have had 22 new gardens added. This is significant as the other 111 gardens we left over from ecocentrus mk1. This new uptake is generating interest, as source of new sightings...

So three years later the pond has become a part of the landscape, bees find it the only source of standing water in the area and during the summer months are always sipping.

http://thehanginggardenerofbabylon.wordpress.com/   When I was still a blagging gardener fresh of the boat with a permaculture design certificate and very little experience Stjohn Steven was the one who took me on. His 'Garden ...

Ali has enabled a function I have long dreampt of. Having personal blogs for each garden user will enable us to keep a running commentry on our experiences and thoughts thereof. I think I am the 1st to make use of this function and would like t...

http://zerocarbonbritain.org/index.php/the-news/120-zcbday I recently had tea with Bruce Heagerty, at zcb@mail.cat.uk, who is the Zero Carbon Guy for CAT and he told me about Zero Carbon Day

http://www.bbcgardenersworldlive.com/  would love to go to this. Pond conservation are going and I think it would be great to take ecocnetrus along.

At Wood festival [www.woodfestival.com]  Hugh Warwick gave his talk on Hedgehogs, although I missed it due to childcare priorities I wanted to attend as I am very fond of hedgehogs. At the Lord Mayors Parade I bumped into him and gave him ...

On my way home from the meadow, I cycled along the tow path and in the twilight I saw a large long tailed otter dive across the to path and into the river.

This fabulous scented pink elder flower is just around the block from my house. It would cetainly be interesting to see cordial made from it. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00gwp1h/Wesley_Smith_29_05_2011/ Today we launched the new web site on Oxford Radio Follow the link to have a listen, available for the next week

I have noticed that all the Cordelin in Oxford have died. Must be the harsh winter. Shame really, but not a loss for biodiversity in any real sense. These 'Cabbage trees' are not a viable breeding population, are they? Never seen any gr...

Dear Friends, It's been another busy month in the garden. We were visited by Oxford Cycle Workshop's 'Alleycat' on the evening of Friday 6th May, where speedy cyclists did a quick bit of gardening (photos here). Then the ve...

I wish I could have been there this year as so many gardens were themes around ecology, wildlife and harvests. Some great designs    http://www.rhs.org.uk/shows-events/rhs-chelsea-flower-show/2011

http://www.verticalveg.xylene.com/   a really nice blog on growing vertically in confined spaces

heres a nice picture from my school of our peacock display

OxGrow is Oxford’s brand new Edible Community Garden. We are transforming two unloved tennis courts right in the heart of Oxford into a thriving food garden.  OxGrow is open to everyone – it’s for kids and adults of a...

So another hot day here in Oxford, and thunder rumbles to the south with the odd flash of lightning. The ground cracks in southparks and rain is still illusive. The wonderful Vibrunum bloom has past and its rich scent is replaced by the dark li...

From looking at Rumi's urban bushcraft page  I have come across this:   http://www.wikimapia.org/#lat=51.745014&lon=-1.2335935&z=19&l=0&m=b   a useful mapping system, amongst many

http://urban-bush-craft.blogspot.com/

to solve a bank flooding problem we wove this willow terrace, its well established today and has been extended along the bank. The wildlife enjoy it, and the ducks find it an excelent landing spot

this is one of my early designs, from pallets its a compact 2 bay compost with a swing gate at the bottom. We have been taking good compost to feed the beds for 3 years now

This fence is in Bath St Abingdon. We harvested the willow from a farm on the farm side of Faringdon, and wove it on site. Looks fab.

I took some photos today of this pond, I will post them up. We made this pond about 3 years ago

The old church yard was always a trick one to mow, we would wait for the wildflowers to do their thing and mow after

I have a huge amont of photos to up load and assign to new gardens, should equate to a few dozen gardens with dozens of photos each

this is a little structue we can up with to allow frogs in and out of this formal pond

So happy with the development of the site

Dont forget that now is a great time to photograph your garden and its visitors. Its easy to add them to your page. From Home, find Garden Details in the left hand column (under my garden), from there click on EDIT/UPLOAD IMAGES and follow instruc...

http://www.mythinglinks.org/Wheel.html Beltane passed on the meadow with fire and music. Oxford is now in full bloom, i have noticed the Lilac all over town, the Horse Chestnut is heavey with fat conical pink and white clusters. The Hawtho...

Mayday is upon us, beltane, walpurgisnacht, roodmas When the Hawthorn is in flower and folk gather on the meadow to dance around the fire and greet the morning sun. Now the horse chestnut is in leaf and the the flowers are in bud, th...

As I drive along the roads of Oxfordshire I keep a keen eye out for anything that is in bloom. I am trying to train myself to see the seasons arrive and to be able to recognise the cues of the natural systems. The hedgerow cousins Blackthorn a...

Now the days are longer and the nights are growing in the southern hemisphere, the land will begin to warm in earest. The bumble bees and the daisys are already prevelent. What other new arrivals can you spot in your garden? Matt

Across the garden landscape you will see birds trying out bushes and areas of climbers as suitable nesting spots. If you are planning any major clearance work on your garden, such as replacing fencing which is covered in climbers, be aware of the ...

Imolc, the first pagan festival after the winter solstice is upon us and we can now see signs of the coming spring with the Snow drops popping up. Have a look in your garden and see if they are there. imbolc (celtic), Candlemas (Catho...

new birds Collared Dove Crested Tit Crossbill Feral Pigeon grey wagtail SHELDUCK just added

NOW I HAVE HANDED IN MY PROJECT I would like to thank you all for registering your gardens, we have over 90 now. The data which we have collected so far has been useful in describing garden ecology and showing how this website is designed to work...

Ali has now programmed a list of species ranked in order of most common go to the top of the reports page. You can also see ranks for the major groups. Enjoy Matt

As the numbers of registered gardens surges upwards, 50 the 60 then here comes 70, the amount of useful data we can feed back to you also increases, so now you can see by clicking on species in the log which species have been most reported, in the...

Due to demand we have added Holly to the list, it can also be found under Common holly. Both are Ilex aquifolium Righto ! Matt

We have added a BIRD FEEDER to the list of Extras, so please EDIT GARDEN DETAILS to include one if you have one. Cheers Matt

I have been comparing the species list from garden-birds.co.uk with the one we have used from ArKive. I have added the following species so far, more to come Blackcap Black Redstart Brambling Bullfinch Buzzard Chiffchaff Coal Tit Have ...

Now you can click on the Gardens Online link in the stats on the left to view a list of all gardens online. They are listed with the most recently added at the top. Gardens that have reported sightings have a sightings icon (magnifying glass) a...

Sparrow hawk has been added to the list with a link to www.garden-birds.co.uk, have a look, its a great site. Thanks Matt

We have been having a bit of bother with the amphibians, but not to worry all fixed now, so please input your toad sightings. Cheers Matt

The lists of species will now be extended by myself and Ali as species and groups of species are identified. Any new species that YOU see that is not on our list, please let us know and we will remedy that as soon as possible. Regards Matt

Users of the site are now able to send and receive messages from other users via an internal messaging system. To send a message to a user log in and visit the My Messages section, click on Compose and you will be presented with a blank message...