"To plant a tree in your own garden..."

[Muddypause]

There was an extra label on the bottle of Ecover washing up liquid that I bought today. It says:

"Get 10% off a Pack of 4 trees with this offer. Growing a tree in your garden is a delight and contributes to biodiversity. Visit the Woodland Trust's Native Tree Shop at www.nativetreeshop.com and you will find lots of information plus a variety of native trees and shrubs to suit all sizes of garden - just enter the code 'Ecover' for a 10% discount."

[alcina]

Sigh....I have this "thing" about wanting an oak tree. Not sure where it comes from - something to do with admiring the history of English Oak I suspect. Big tree....small garden....sigh....

Alcina

[wulf]

I was admiring the variety of oak trees when I was down in Devon last weekend, visiting my parents. We'd looked in on the current exhibition at RHS Rosemoor which was one artist's work, devoted to this sylvan stalwart, and so I was particularly aware of them.

However, like Alcina... big tree (big ideas), small garden!

Wulf

[Andy Hamilton]

And I have no garden Having a go at soem trees in pot though. This site might be of interest http://www.futureforests.com/ - they plant a tree to help people reach carbon neutrality. For example a return trip from heathrow to Ibiza will be about 1 tree. New zeland and back 6. Each tree cost £10 for them to plant for you.

[Haddock]

I have planted 4 trees this year (btw - these are the only trees I have ever planted) in my garden....and it feels good
A Jonagold apple tree, a Victoria Plum tree, a Mirabelle plum tree & a decorative Japanese Full Moon Maple. All the fruit trees look like sticks with leaves, but they'll get better each year (I hope) - and someday should produce fruit.
Incidently all the properties on the housing estate where I live have to have a certain ammount of trees planted as stipulated by the local council
I would have liked to have had an Oak tree as well, but a BIG tree needs room.

[Wombat]

When I moved into out housing estate (25+ years ago) it had been clear felled and looked desolate. Looking over it now from a high vantage point it looks green and leafy .It is good to see the improvement!

Nev

[Millymollymandy]

I have to take trees out! The problem is that people plant trees too close together, then 30 years later when I come along and buy the house, they are overcrowded and sad looking!

Our current garden is too full of trees and the previous people just let oaks, sycamore and wild cherry self seed all over the place, in between the mature trees. So firewood they will be.

Seems sad to take out an oak when all I ever wanted was an oak in my garden but I know how big they get (albeit I'll be long gone before they are huge!). There are plenty more that are staying though!

However I've never yet planted a tree (always wanted to), so I bought a Liquidambar which is sitting in a pot waiting for autumn when a couple of Christmas trees are going to be felled to make some space for it.

[alcina]

I've thought about sponsoring a tree or two...but it's not the same Good link though - I have to go to Germany later this month...I might donate! This year I've also planteda Victoria Plum (training it as a fan against a wall) and a Robin Almond (training as a standard on the patio). But they're not oaks

Don't get me started on people letting sycamores self seed! They're a rampant weed here in South East London! They're everywhere. They're the only tree you see from the train Every year I pull up a couple of hundred sycamore seedlings from my garden! I used to like sycamores when I lived in the Midlands and they weren't such a problem, now I hate the buggers!

On the pavement opposite my house used to be a Horse Chestnut tree, which didn't quite manage the summer of 2003, last year half of it was dead, and this year there was only one branch in leaf. The council cut it down about a month ago - I'm tempted to ask if they could replace it with an oak! I'd even pay for the sapling! Any tree there though would give my front garden some shade in the hight of summer - it's going to BAKE this year!

Alcina

[leedarkwood]

If anyone wants to come up here for a weekend and plant a tree, you would be more than welcome!

Lee
West Yorkshire

[Andy Hamilton]

Nice offer lee, perhaps we can plant an apple tree for self sufficientish on the lands end John o'groats ride

[wulf]

Sycamores? Yes - also a pain over in my part of Lewisham. When we got the flat about seven years ago, one of the first jobs was to go round and deal with the sycamore saplings around the garden.

My wife and I haven't had so much of a problem this year but last year we used some leaves gathered up the previous autumn by a friend without taking into account what kind of tree they came from. Whoops! Sycamore seedlings all over the place!

Still, it's all biomass and I think the seedlings are safely compostable if broken up when small.

BTW, I like the idea of sowing seeds on the bike ride - Johnny Appleseed all over again!

Wulf

[Andy Hamilton]

Wow you learn something new every day! I had heard of Johnny Appleseed but did not know what he was famous for! cheers for posting wulf.

I think I will have to have a permission off a few people though. But it is worth a chat with the national trust.

[Andy Hamilton]

Just came across this site ecotricity who are a renewable energy company. They pledge that their bills will be the same as your supplier now and thay for everyone that switch they will plant a tree, they already have planted a forest

[ina]

Sigh....I have this "thing" about wanting an oak tree. Not sure where it comes from - something to do with admiring the history of English Oak I suspect. Big tree....small garden....sigh....

Alcina

I've got an oak in a pot, and I can't make up my mind where to plant it! It's definitely not big now, and I don't think it ever will be, looks more like a bonsai to me...

I've also got two trees, one of which is a birch, the name of the other I can't remember just now (white flowers, red berries...), in a half barrel. Confined like that they won't get too large, especially not as my goats got out again tonight and ate half the leaves off.

All these trees are "rescue trees", small trees that I found abandoned or neglected in pots and that nobody else wanted. I've got an awful lot of stuff like that. No wonder my garden doesn't look like those in the glossy magazines...

Ina

[ina]

Sigh....I have this "thing" about wanting an oak tree. Not sure where it comes from - something to do with admiring the history of English Oak I suspect. Big tree....small garden....sigh....

Alcina

I've got an oak in a pot, and I can't make up my mind where to plant it! It's definitely not big now, and I don't think it ever will be, looks more like a bonsai to me...

I've also got two trees, one of which is a birch, the name of the other I can't remember just now (white flowers, red berries...), in a half barrel. Confined like that they won't get too large, especially not as my goats got out again tonight and ate half the leaves off.

All these trees are "rescue trees", small trees that I found abandoned or neglected in pots and that nobody else wanted. I've got an awful lot of stuff like that. No wonder my garden doesn't look like those in the glossy magazines...

Ina