What I Got Up to Last Night

It is always good to check over nocturnal plantings during daylight hours, as I am doing today.

Sometimes I find that holes are not filled in properly, and occasionally I find I have put some in upside down.  Such daylight checks give me the opportunity to disguise any disturbed earth, with some grass and just really; to get a clear view of what I have done the night before.

This now; misty roadside site is largely covered in Reeds and Brambles, at least on the parts I have planted.  So these trees should be well protected.

Altogether this particular site is about 10% planted and has been added to gradually, over a decade.

Hopefully I won't need to add any more trees to this site. 

Hopefully I have added all the right ingredients, to allow nature to colonise the remaining area its self.  And beyond!

The last picture is of a Hazel.  Planted about a decade ago.  Living proof that Trees like it (& thrive) up here.

Hopefully my actions here, will give nature the ability to regenerate the forests, which should naturally cover this whole area.

Random Roadside Tree Planting

Phase II
There are only a few windy-bendy roads going across Dartmoor.  For long sections they cross over open moorland, and for long sections, the land is all partitioned into field systems, with drystone granite walls and banks.  Along these fenced off sections; a thick strip of ungrazed, sometimes Gorsey Grass aligns the roadsides.  It is here, where I come to plant today.


Phase I, was the planting of the odd random trees, in Gorsey or Brambly patches Along these roads, this often being the first reappearance of which ever species, in that area, since the Moors were cleared for intensive sheep farming, all those centuries ago.

With Phase I; I wanted to give the impression that a few trees had appeared naturally here and there, and in a few small random patches.


Phase One has been in operation between years two and five.  It is now year eleven and the original trees are now getting quite big.  So now its time to enter the second phase of thickening up these roadside clumps and adding a seemingly natural second generation of trees.

Car Lights
Up  here I can spot an oncoming vehicle miles before it gets to me.

There is no other light or noise.

I stash the trees and the spade and either hide in a ditch or behind a wall, or I pertend to be walking.

Risky Hedge Site

Under Cover Operation

Once again I hide, in the dark and the rain.  This time from a passing car and behind a small Bank, under a wind battered but very vigorous Silver Birch, which I planted about nine years ago.

This site is right on the edge of a village, so day time planting is out of the question. 

From the road; a granite wall is backed with a grassy bank, and behind it is a barbed wire fence and then a field.

What I am doing here is; planting a hedge, which contains Oak, Birch, Hazel, Holly, Sallow and Dog Rose.

A thin road-side strip of natural woodland, and all collected from less than 20 miles away.



Few native trees exist nearby, only block planted Beech.

The site is on a ridge top, about 20 metres from the moor and sits over 400 meters above sea level.



A short cut en route



My First Tree

This Cherry Tree, which resides in my Mum's back garden, was grown by me from a cherry stone, back in 1973, when I was four.


As far as I know, there are some Fucias, which pre-date it, but this is definitely my oldest living tree.

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.2

Collecting Acorns

Acorn Collecting in October
Around the end of October, all the ripened Acorns, all fall off the trees at once.  This is the best time to collect them, before the Squirrels get there first. 


Acorns can be used for planting in sites, where the competing vegetation is low growing or for planting in pots or nursery beds.


It is good to make a day of it and get other people involved, simply because that means that I will collect more Acorns. 


Acorns will die if dried out, also if kept in plastic bag.  Untill you are ready to plant them; throw them on some wet garden soil, or store them in wet leaves.

The new Blogger App
This blog was due for an October release. But sadly my computer has been experiencing technical difficulties.


Two days ago, I discovered that there is actually a 'Blogger app', which I can use on my mobile phone.  So now I can continue blogging, despite my inoperational PC.  
The app is not as good as on a the PC, there is far less you can do, but at least it works.  In fact now I'm just editing it, some days later, on my mate's computer.


In future (until I get my PC back); I will use the blogger app to upload photos and text to my posts, but I will only publish them in drafts, untill such a time as I have the opportunity to go over them properly, with a computer.


Fair play to the blogger app, though.
Don't want to diss it, or anything like that.
It has made blogging that much more convenient and I can now; get my basic messages out there, directly from site and then just neaten them up later.

On Top of the World

My Unofficial Office

This is where I come and relax and sometimes come to compile notes, well, one of many places actually.  This place is quite special for a number of reasons though; firstly it's got these huge granite overhangs, which are great, if it's raining and/or windy, then it's half a kilometer above sea level, well 520 metres, to be exact and you can see for miles.

A friend on face book pointed out to me earlier today; that the over-hanging rock looks like a Whale, so I have nick named it Whale rock.  Granite has a peculiar way of appearing to look like all sorts of things, much like clouds appear to do.

If today were less hazy; in the direction shown in the above photograph; you could see the edge of Torquay, which is some 35 miles away.  If you looked to the South West, you could see Plymouth.  North West; Bodmin Moor and you can generally see a huge section of the South Devon and Cornish coastline.

On Dartmoor we have these small rocky outcrops, usually on the top of hills, which we call 'tors'.  This one is called North Hessary tor.  Usually, like this one; the tors are quite easy to climb, in the picture above you can see the triangulation point, which marks the top.  

On the other picture above are some Willows I planted right back in year 1 (2001).  They have survived up here, but have never grown above half a metre in height.  Not sure exactly why this is, but I have many theorys.

On the Tors themselves; few plants can grow except Mosses, Lichens and the odd Stone crops (Sedum), as shown above.

You really can see for miles in all direction here.  It is always very tranquil and it is always down hill on the return journey, which ever direction that might be.

Berries on the Elders

Success at last

Today is the first day I made a bit of money on the Internet, it is also the day I noticed that my Elder trees have actually produced fruit.

I have been planting Elders since year 1 (2001) and for the last 3 years; they have flowered, but never had any fruit.  I had assumed that, as with many other trees and shrubs; that conditions up here were too poor and that they just weren't able to produce berries because it was either too short a season and/or the soil was too acid, but now they have, just a few.  Just like the £9 I made on the Internet today; It's a good start, and to see both made me very happy.

It's worth noting, that the Elders on the lowlands fruited ages ago, we're a good month behind up here on Dartmoor, same with everything.

Before I moved here; there were about 4 Elder trees up here, which must have been brought here by the Birds.  None of them ever produced any fruit, maybe there just weren't enough of them then.  I haven't been all the way down the river, to check them yet.  Too busy blogging.