Concealed Stash of Trees

Tree Stash

It is always good to keep things in one place, which is memorable, easy to spot in the dark and somewhere that no one goes.  It saves panicking in the dark and spending a long time searching for lost trees and tools.
When I leave my stashed tree pile, for any length of time; I cover them over with grass and/or leaves or snow; to conceal them and to keep them from becoming dry.  

Tonight's trees have been stashed underneath this young Spruce tree, which I planted 11 years ago.

Conifers in places

I do not normally plant non native species, but on this site there are huge clumps of Spirea, which have escaped from people's gardens and are marching across this site at an alarming rate, so I thought a neat little belt of Conifers, on that edge of the site.  On the North facing side of the houses; should ought to halt the Spirea clumps in their tracks and then eventually smother them.

Tonight I added to this barrage with just a few more little conifers, but all the other trees in the bag were native and deciduous.

These types of Spruce are not like the invasive Maritime Pines, like you get along the South coast.  These ones will not compete in a deciduous woodland and will be very unlikely to seed themselves here.

Planting Trees in the Snow

The Snow makes work a bit harder, but there isn't loads of it.  In fact this is the first significant snow of this Winter.  Very different from the last three unbearably freezing tree planting seasons, when snow covered the whole area for many months, sometimes over a metre deep. 

This snow is melting rapidly and will probably be gone completely in a couple of days, if not later on this afternoon.  I hope so, because I had planned to go out tree collecting.

Snow must be shovelled off the patches of ground, where the little trees are to be planted and then kicked back over again a bit, to hide the disturbed ground, after each one is done.

On this site I am planting tightly packed clumps of mixed small Willows and Birch, often two or three to a hole.  I have found out through experimentation, that most species of tree, but most especially Birch; grow allot better in clumps.  I am not sure why this is, but I now always try and group them together in clumps, leaving good spaces between these clumps, for people to comfortably walk around and between them.

I hope that I will complete this site before I move house, but if not; there are enough wild trees species to colonise the remaining bits naturally.  To allow me to cut a few corners, I have left a few grassy open patches and added allot of suckering Blackthorns, which will spread out, with their underground rhizomes and extend the woods in whatever directions necessary.

Last Years Trees

Walking around here in the snow; I can spot just about all of my trees from last year, as the snow has flattened and obscured the grass and other vegetation, which normally camouflages them.

It is hard to believe that these have only been in a year; they have grown loads!  Particularly trees which are often difficult to get started like the Oaks, which are doing extremely well.

The Willows and Birch from last year have all grown long shoots in the growing season and look so much bigger than the ones I have put in today.  

Trees all planted, I got myself back into the warmth and I hope that the snow melts soon, so I can get out and get some more trees.

Dawn Alder Planting Mission

Tricky Sites

This site is one of the most awkward to plant; it can't be be done in the day time, because its on an 'almost cross-roads' between two semi-major foot paths, it is over-looked by the village and also by Dartmoor Prison.

Planting this site in the dead of night also presents problems, as the site is very boggy, tangled with brambles and small prickly shrub trees, which I have planted here in previous years and the site lies between a leat and a ditch.  The only time that I felt it to be safe to plant this site was at the crack of dawn, when there is sufficient light but hopefully no people.  So that it what I have come here this morning to attempt to accomplish.

Many trees and shrubs exist along this narrow strip of land and of many types.  These I put in over the past decade, they are nearly all shrub trees and are mostly getting well established here.  They include Broom, Gorse, Willow, Hawthorn and Birch.  But I haven't really added any thing to this bit directly for five years.  In that time however all the surrounding land has been planted, so this last little bit that I am doing tonight; completes this bit of the woods.

There remaining gaps between the clumps of young shrub trees were all very boggy, so I decided to string them together, with tightly planted groups of Alders, which I am confident; will do very well here.

Completion

Since this part of the woods is now compete; moral was given a bit of a boost.  I am finding that allot of sites are the same this year; as add the finishing touches all over these woods of my own making.  I have been busy doing this here for the last eleven years and now it really dose seem to have been worth it.

Along this site there are many clumps of Stinging Nettle and Russian Comfrey.  Both get quite large in the Summer and have dense light blocking foliage.  I am assuming that my Alders are both big and robust enough to cope with this, but never the less I have tended to put them around the edges of these sites, rather than right in them, as I feel they will have a better chance, than they would have had in the centre.  If they were a little bit bigger it would have been OK to plant them further into these clumps, but I was concerned that they would not survive as well, if I did.

Alders are very good at pushing up through stuff, better than most trees, but I never like to take unnecessary risks with my little trees, so I like them to be taller than the height of the summer vegetation.

Nice Welcome Home

Cats are usually noted as ignoring their humans, but I received a very warm welcome from my kitten, called Max, when I got home.  Very nice after a cold wet dawn planting-mission.  Occasionally a few of the cats actually appear when I am out planting trees, although that is usually; to come and get me, because they want something.  
Could this be an actual feline selfless act?

Lime Trees

Small leaved Lime Tilia Cordata

I don't plant many Lime tree, as they are not very common in the wild.  But I like to have them dotted about in parts of the woods, as they provide a great deal of shelter for creatures, with their many side shoots, which sprout from all the way up the trunk of mature trees, right up into the canopy.  This provides lots of high up shelter for Birds, Squirrels and other small creatures.  

The lime has a habit of trapping puddles of water between its clumps of branches, which would save animals, which live in them; from venturing down onto the more dangerous ground, to look for water.

Sometimes I buy little Lime trees and sometimes I dig up suckers, from big trees.  They seem to grow remarkably well and can put up with most things.  They are slow to start, but remarkably tough and resilient.

Planting Trees in a Bank.

Dibbing in Little Oaks
This site; the Two Bridges road, Near Princtown is my show-piece Wild Daffodil plantation.
Since the Wild daffs are starting to sprout now; I do not want to disturb them, so I have opted not to use the spade and instead have employed the actions of a little bit of tough willow stick, to use as a Dibber.


This road has a raised granite bank, all along its two mile(ish) length.  On the 5 foot high bank have been planted Hawthorns, but nothing else.
Beech and the loathsome Sycamores have started to make headway, seeding themselves onto and around this bank, sprouting up along whole sections of the wall invasivly, in the absence of all other species of trees.


Today's Mission
Today I simply wish to add Wild local Oak to this bank, so that the canopy will not one day; just be dominated by only a few species of trees.  I have brought along the odd hazel as well and a few dog Rose, but very little else.
Also; Wild Daffs love Oaks and will grow under a mixture of deciduous trees that includes Beech, but they will not grow under just-Beech!

The grass on top of this bank doesn't get very long, so here tiny little pull-up-able twiggy two year old seedlings have been selected.  These then only have a tap root of a few inches long and easily fit into the little holes that I have been dibbing.


I dib the holes as deep and wide enough, then pop in a few little Oaks  in each hole.


Next I grab a hand full of nearby mus or soil and fashion it comfortably, around the tree's bases, both for support and to ensure that the roots are covered with soil.


Since discretion is every thing; I like to disguise newly planted trees.
I do not want people to notice these little babies, until they are growing fast up through the protective Hawthorn hedge, that they are in.  So I grab some leaves and cover the patch of disturbed ground with then an top it off with a bit of grass.


The process of dibbing is illustrated here, in the above captions.
The pictures below demonstrate the follow up procedures, to maximise the survival rate of these delicate little trees:

1) Grab some mud from nearby.

2) Place it around base of baby trees.

3) add a few leaves.

4) Disguise with grass.

Planting Acorns

Some people would dib Acorns and cover them with soil. I wouldn't though.
In the wild; the Acorns fall off in October, closely followed by the leaves, which bury them and through which they grow.  So I choose to do the same.

I only plant them where there is no grass competition.  like here, in this moss.  There also needs to be a near by source of leaf mold, like from the Hawthorn hedge, so the young Oaks will have enough nutrients in the soil to grow.

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