[spandit]

I've got 1,500 trees arriving on Wednesday and despite the helpers I've got lined up, it's going to be a lot of work putting them in! Should be worth it in the long run - hoping it will improve drainage, provide lots of nature habitat and firewood in years to come.

[Fleecewife]

Planting trees is one of the best things you can do for so many reasons 

My husband planted up the same number you have as part of his recovery from a major illness.  He got through them all without help, although he took a while to do it.  As long as, if they're bare rooted, you keep the roots moist both while they're waiting and when you have them ready to plant, by trenching them in, then keeping them sheltered in a plastic feed sack or similar when in the field, they don't all have to go in on the same day - or even the same week.   With all your helpers time should fly    You will be so proud once they all in and you have your woodland.

[Dan]

Good luck, it'll be great. 

Take pleny of photos so you can record the progress, it's easy to forget how much they've grown!

[Rosemary]

And photos so we can see how much they've grown 

[spandit]

Don't worry, I'll be taking plenty of photos! Have registered on Arbtalk and have had some wonderful advice over there (typically conflicting in places). I just hope I'm doing the right thing as it means losing a couple of acres of pasture (but then I love woodland, so rough with the smooth )

[SirDoolb]

Good luck, it'll be great. 

Take plenty of photos so you can record the progress, it's easy to forget how much they've grown!

Isn't that what you're supposed to say about babies?

I'm trying to decide what trees I want to buy for my land. Quite fun.

[spandit]

I'm trying to decide what trees I want to buy for my land. Quite fun.

Have you looked at the MOREwoods scheme run by the Woodland Trust? It's not restrictive, only binding for 12 years and a lot cheaper than paying full price.

Failing that, the advice I'd give myself if I could is to make sure what kind of soil you have (pH wise) and choose accordingly. Have a good look round the area to see what grows locally and don't necessarily restrict yourself to native species (not an option with the WT) - in my lifetime we've lost the elm and the ash but there are some fantastic trees better suited to our changing climate that you can plant.

 I've made things more difficult by refusing to use glyphosate spraying and the mulch mats will take an age to put on.

[spandit]

Trees arrived yesterday, on two massive pallets...



and one small one, which made the task in hand seem vaguely manageable:



Wasted little time in planting my first one - a cherry to form part of an avenue (this carpet was in my old house, no, it wasn't a pub):



(You can see the end of the hawthorn hedge I planted last month in that photo)



Started laying out the main ride up to the spring in the top paddock. At my wife's request, these are all wild cherry too - hoping it'll make a glorious avenue in a few years:



At close of play today we'd got this far, losing half the day to bad weather and humping the stuff up into the field, which is all being done by hand as we don't have a tractor and our 4x4's can't make it:



In the foreground you can probably see where we've marked out a Scots Pine circle - a bit twee perhaps but apart from another one in the lower field, that's the only formal planting we're doing. The rest is mixed. Mainly planted alder today, with some aspen and cherry mixed in (the blackthorn/hawthorn hedge I planted isn't shown).

Going to tackle more alder tomorrow and hopefully plant a hazel coppice and some oak standards

[HesterF]

How big are they under the tree guards? We've got 700 60-80cm trees arriving in about a month and I was hoping to get them all in with my husband in a couple of days. Mind you, I'm hoping to get the ground preprepared and they're all for one fence line- weed killing early in March (fingers crossed on temperature), hire rotavator to dig over the whole length, manure, lay the weed matting and then cut slits for each tree before they arrive. Then I believe once they've arrived you can just stick your spade in, dip the roots in growing powder, drop the tree in behind the spade and then firm it in. Do you reckon we'll manage to get that many planted in a couple of days if we've done all the preparation?

[spandit]

I think you'll struggle... Mine are all 60cm whips. It's the staking, tubing etc. that is taking the time...

[spandit]

Worked from 9-6 today & did about 220, I think. Exhausted. Most of them were in a small, flat area with the stuff already up there... Still reckon we've got 680 to go

[Marches Farmer]

hire rotavator to dig over the whole length, manure, lay the weed matting and then cut slits for each tree before they arrive.

Never bothered to rotavate - churns up a lot of old weed seeds that germinate when exposed to the light.

[HesterF]

OK, happy to skip that part! Just wanted to make sure it was soft enough to just stick the spade in. I was following this clip from the nursery - http://www.ashridgetrees.co.uk/hedging-trees-fruit-questions/how-to-plant-hedge/how-to-plant-a-hedge-country-hedging-film - which makes it look like it's all in the preparation.

[Penninehillbilly]

I see you are using tubes rather than spirals, but this is how our local group works, they have a 'spear' stick it in the ground, lever/twist to make a hole, drop plant in, firm in with foot, cane in, then sheets of newspaper, covered with hessian squares (ex coffee sacks - smell lovely!) the corners of the hessian are then just poked firmly into the ground with the spear or a small spade, very quick and easy, and all have held down for over 2 years.
I'm thinking the sticking corners in idea may help with your mats?

[spandit]

I'm thinking the sticking corners in idea may help with your mats?

That's exactly what we're planning but priority is to get the trees in the ground with a tube on - I reckon they can outcompete weeds for a few days but will only take one animal seconds to destroy them. Does look neat once tucked in but very time consuming

Here's one I did this morning...