Planting Trees is something that you do for your great great grandchildren. It won’t be within your lifetime you see that tree reach maturity. In the right conditions and given time that tree could become colossal and why wouldn’t you gift that to future generations?
Our woodland at Treacle Valley has a lot of ash trees and sadly these trees need to be felled. We had a handful of them taken down over winter and this has given us new spaces and new possibilities of what we can plant and grow in the woods. Why do we need to replant? To increasing biodiversity. Biodiversity means having a wide range of different species and varieties in one place. From plant life, to insects, birds and mammals. The more diversity, the richer your environment becomes. Each tree, flower, shrub attracts different insects, each insect has a unique way to pollinate flowers. Each insect also attracts different birds and mammals. Each bird and mammal will disperse different seeds, which then creates more abundance in your woodland.
So, at Earthworks on Saturday (25th April) we planted trees in new patches of ground where sunlight hasn’t hit for a while, and everyone got involved! A Grandad with his grandsons, parents with their toddler, a mother and daughter and a group of students doing Duke of Edinburgh volunteering with us. We planted a mixture of wild cherry, rowan, silver birch, hazel and dog wood. All of which we received from the Woodland Trusts Free Trees for School and Communities scheme. These will provide structure to the woodland with dogwood being a smaller, shrubbier tree and the birch and cherry taking the height. Birch and Rowan are pioneer trees, meaning that they grow quickly and don’t shade out the ground beneath them. The dappled light that hits the ground beneath them is perfect for wildflowers to thrive in.
Eco systems are amazing!
We also created dead hedge tree guards around the some of these saplings as we ran out of the biodegradable tree guards. Also great for wildlife and will still protect the trees from being nibbled by deer and rabbits as they grow older.
And in 70 years time, Treacle Valley would be a wildlife haven far surpassing the magic that exists there today,
but I won’t be around to see it.
