From Field To Woodland

Given the continued curb on our movements due to the C-word (the virus) I have been unable to take a trip up to plant the trees I grew from seed that are now in their second year. As they are going to be getting rather pot bound if left, I spent some time re-potting them as best that I could in the hope that they will be ok being moved later in the year - or even in the winter. I am not sure how much they will suffer spending a second year in small(ish) pots but they at least have some fresh compost now and a little more room to spread out. I think I have potentially about 10% of the oak, beach, chestnut and mountain ash that I will need - right there in these pots. There are about 100 trees. It is weird to think they could, in theory, still be stood there as a woodland in 200 years time. In fact I would be heart broken if some are not. I have had really good results growing from seed - I only planted 4 species and 4 species grew pretty successfully despite the planting being...

So, as a chap with a lot more time on his hands than he is used to having, I was itching to have a go at a draft planting scheme. I wanted just a rough layout for now - without detailing which species goes where.  Another slightly pressing issue involved a couple of dozen, one year old saplings, that are sitting in my garden in tiny pots. They either need re-potting into decent sized pots , or they need planting out. The seed was originally collected for a planting project near Longley Farms - they asked people to collect seed and sow them for planting - which I did (I love planting trees see) - but then the project went cold and nobody got back to me when planting time came. At the time I collected the seed, I never imagined I would end up planting them in my own field!  These babies may end up being a bit sacrificial though, I spotted a lot of rabbits on my visit tonight, so these little nippers will be a test run, with spirals and tree tubes - to see which stand up ...

Given , the whole idea of this project is to make a "transformation" - I think it important to record the "before and after". I am hoping, during the summer of 2020 (virus permitting) that it might be possible to add some drone footage here and a few more good arial and ground photographs. But as a starting point, here is a shot pinched from Google Earth showing the blank canvas. From close to the bottom of the field.  Update : July 2020 Nick Ford very kindly came to visit all the way from Retford on his Motorcycle bringing his amazing drone. The tech in these machines is incredible.  It was a beautiful still evening and he managed to capture the following videos and stills on his visit. Huge thanks to Nick for recording the "before" for me.