VOLUNTEERS donned gloves and wellies to spruce up an East Oxford community garden in time for spring.

The group prepared flower beds, cleaned drains and cleared out junk at Barracks Lane Community Garden off Cowley Road on Saturday, making it spick and span for the warmer months.

The former waste-filled garage site was converted into a garden in 2007 and is used by the community for picnics, parties, events and workshops.

It has a meeting and workshop space in a Yurt, a tent based on tribal dwellings in Mongolia, a cob oven where visitors can roast and bake seasonal food and a compost toilet where waste is transformed into compost in two years.

About 10 helpers dug beds, swept, cleaned, cleared and mended things in the garden, ready for the summer.

It will now be open every weekend between 11am and 5pm until November.

Garden director Helen Osborn, of Swinburne Road, East Oxford, said: “I have had my arm up to my armpits cleaning out a drain but we’ve also been taking old junk out, recycling stuff and fixing the compost toilet.”

The garden has recently been awarded £21,000 from the National Lottery for projects connected to growing food.

Fellow director Annie Davey said the summer season would be packed full of events, from a Permaculture Design Course, focusing on urban permaculture, food production and eco-renovation, to plant swap days.

Permaculture is an approach to designing human settlements and agricultural systems that mimic natural ecologies.

An exhibition of work showcasing real and virtual gardens will take centre stage during May.