Tree planting

[Ludwig]

Hae you planted a tree. I have planted around 20 this year which includes ash, hazel, willow, sycamore, yew, alder and a few others. Trees are growing and seeding everywhere and seem to grow remarkably fast and you are consantly pulling or digging hem out if they are too close to buildings, drains or overhead cables but with the demand for firewood from wood burning stoves, biofue systems and the general amenity, wildlife and environment there needs to be a lot more trees growing.

 

[biggs682]

aprox 15 years ago my other half put 2 conkers in pots and they grew very easily although slowly , we have transplanted them on 2 times so far .
one of them is aprox 5 ft tall and is in a pot about 10" dia and same deep the other is a bit smaller and in a smaller pot , We know at some point we wont be able to keep transplanting them , but where do we plant them when that time comes as there health is unknown ?
PS our back garden is not big enough to plant them into the soil realistically

 

[annedonnelly]

On holiday near Inverness we had an "activity day". I chose to help out with tree planting around a wildlife pond. Hopefully they'll still be there in many years to come.

One of the others who helped out has planted about 15,000 trees in a couple of places where he's lived over the years - all helping to improve the environment where he lives. I don't think I can compete with that!

 

[raleighnut]

In the late 80s I worked for a year on Watermead Country Park on the edge of Leicester (part of a community programme scheme) and planted around a hundred trees, mainly White willow, Alder, Hornbeam and Oaks and also literally thousands of Hawthorn 'whips'* (we put up several miles of fencing between all the teams and then planted hedging both sides at 18" staggered intervals so that it could be 'layed' traditionally in later years)
I've also got a 25-30 foot Ash growing behind my greenhouse, if it shows signs of 'Ash dieback' it'll come down for firewood but as it's isolated it may escape that infestation.

* 'whips' are small 2 year old single stem cuttings that you insert into a spade cut in the ground and 'heel in'

 

[rich p]

Sycamores!!! The Woodland volunteers spend most of their time digging these up in our local woods.

 

[summerdays]

I have both planted trees and had to get them removed professionally when they got too big - cortorted willow that in my mum's garden grew to about 12ft with a trunk of about 2 inches, whereas in my garden it grew and grew and grew, taller than the house and a trunk of a couple of feet! That wood is currently drying out!

I've also been involved in planting a hedge to create a boundary, which is starting to fill out, but the eventual aim in to layer it. I'm not sure what we need to do, I'm just the helper who does what she is told!

 

[summerdays]

Sycamores!!! The Woodland volunteers spend most of their time digging these up in our local woods.

In my garden I have to dig up lots of Hazel seedlings!

 

[Ganymede]

I am a great planter of fruit trees - in fact they are the only kind of tree I have ever planted in the two gardens I have owned over the past 28 years! Plums, greengages, damson, mulberry, 6 or 7 different apples, and two pears. I'm about to put in two more apples, a crab and a (hopefully scab-resistent) pear.

I would never plant a sycamore! I have a few on my borders and spend what seems like hours pulling out 4" seedlings from my flower beds and patio! Also they are quite recent arrivals in the UK landscape. I love Ash trees and have to pull up a few of those too of course. I am very lucky to have quite a lot of space, and I love trees - I coppice hazel stools for bean poles etc and used to do green wood turning (hope to again one day).

I've realised my avatar is pretty revealing (those ash logs are a table now, made by a local bloke).

 

[Hill Wimp]

I have just come back from a tour of Holland and Belgium. My head is now filled with ideas for my garden which is small but a complete blank canvas. All the gardens in Holland were pristine and mainly small as space is a premium there but almost all had beautiful trees. They love to pollard and shape their trees and it seems they will do this to almost any species too and don't get me started on espallier, i love it.

 

[Hill Wimp]

 

[Mattonsea]

I have planted a few fruit trees from the pound shop and surprisingly doing OK. Plenty of compost and water at the beginning. The old wife's tale was to bury that random dead Horse or Cow and plant an Oak on top .

 

[Dave 123]

Too many to mention.
My favourites to plant are apple/crab apple.

Spring flowers for the bees and me to enjoy.
Autumn fruit for me and the birds to eat.
Crab apple such as Golden Hornet and Red Sentinel stay hard until they've had a good frost, then the birds eat them. Until then they provide wintre colour.

 

[PK99]

I've also got a 25-30 foot Ash growing behind my greenhouse,

Nobbut a baby then!

I spend my life pulling out Ash seedlings in my garden!

 

[Red17]

Loads of fruit trees on my allotment (apple, pear, quince, cherry, plum, greenguage).

Plot next door has had a couple of trees which had never fruited in the 15 or so years they have been in but are full of apricots this year, so that is on the list for this autumn.

 

[jhawk]

My friend Iohan planted trees as a job in British Columbia these past couple of years. He planted 1,000 - 1,500 trees a day! Apparently that type of mass-plantation is very physically demanding.