It has been a long time happening, a long wait for activity. There was, to be honest, a bit of stress too. Would things grow?
I know its a bit silly, nature likes to get on with it and doesn't need human permission to do so. You plant stuff, and generally it grows. For me though, the stakes felt pretty high. A lot of money had been spent, a lot of favours given, a lot of volunteer labour had been donated. What if the suppliers had sent poor trees? What if those roots really had dried out before we planted? What if the icy ground and the snow had frost damaged the roots? What if the field was too windy and exposed? What if? What if?
It was like being an expectant father of 450 tree babies. Excitement and worry in equal measure. I was literally asking them to hurry up and get on with it whenever I visited.
And then stuff started to happen.
The daffs came first and we had some sense of spring, though a rather cold one.
There were a few snowdrops too. But technically, these hadn't "grown" as we snuck them in during some planting - when almost ready to flower.
So the daffs definitely won the race. I know they are not woodland plants technically, I get that, but they look flippin' lovely so they are staying and I like them. The path boundaries looks beautiful and will get better and better over time hopefully.
Next came the hawthorn, hazel and the crab apple. To say I was excited was an understatement.
A huge relief, at least some of the trees were alive. Later on in the spring, I estimated over 95% are still going (some Yew trees didn't appear to like being in spiral guards and died, holly appears to not like being moved), but in the early spring, it was a relief to see just a few alive and well.
It wasn't just plants that had woken up either.
Last years willow planting was a bit of a failure. We only had a single cutting take (Tree Number 1). I felt last year we were too late taking the cuttings. I suspect I was right. This year things got in the way and I was similarly late. What the heck I thought, it was a no cost option , why not have another go (thanks farmer Simon - again).
Einstein (or somebody similarly clever) once said something about "only a fool would repeat an experiment and expect a different result". Well , we did get a different result - who knows why. Maybe the colder spring?
So that was spring, and the first real "new life" in the field. Happy days and more to come I hope. It is an odd thing to say I know, but I have a sense of relief, that should I die now, the project is underway in the way that I imagined it and it will happen now without me. I am hoping to continue to shape it for a little while yet, but if I can't, I know I did it, or at least got it started.
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