Is it easy planting trees?

We've been farming our little corner of Dorset for over 14 years now, and in that time we have fallen in love with planting trees.

Trees planted 10 years ago

It started out with the collection of the odd acorn when walking in autumn, planting them and watching with child like wonder as our acorn first became a tiny sapling and then a tree.  Being a very windy area our interest soon grew into buying a few bare root "whips" (1 or 2 year old trees) in autumn and planting them in strategic places to help us gain some shelter.  Some of these when planted were just knee height are now towering over us.

It is often all too easy to be put off the idea of planting trees.

Our future Glade

Having grown a variety of trees and hedges from different methods we decided in 2010 to take on the planting of a 5 acre woodland.  We took time to plan, removing and relocating fencing and visualising it when mature. We plotted a winding walk way through it and a glade in the centre where we could one day site a clay oven and take the Grandchildren for picnics.  To give you an idea of our time scales on this idea our eldest son is now 14 and very career minded, so the trees have at least 20 years to establish!!

We calculated the number of trees needed to be in excess of 2,000 and realised we would need some help.  At this point we started to talk to others about our dream.  This is when we experienced a lot of sucking of breath, discussions of deer decimating our whole woodland over night, how poor planting could result in the trees sitting in the ground and dying, and killer rabbits.  In fact if there was a way a tree could die it was brought up by someone at this stage.
With an investment in over 2,000 trees (paid for in part by the English Woodland Grant Scheme from the Forestry Commission) we did feel a bit nervous, but having always had success with trees and having done a fair amount of research we stuck to our plans and the trees arrived, a little late for planting, in Februray 2011.

Horse Chestnut buds

We all set-to with spades, planting the trees as quickly as we could.

Our planting, it turned out, was at the start of an unpresentedly dry spring and we went weeks with no rain.  With over 2,000 trees now in the ground spread over 5 acres (the size of 3 rugby pitches) we could not water as you would a tree in your garden.  We did try.  We emptied all our rain harvested water onto small groups of trees.  It felt like filling a bath with cups of water brought in from the kitchen!  On a those rare occasions when there was rain in our region it somehow never quite reached us. We felt certain at this point we would lose large numbers of our trees.  Perhaps everyone had been right?

We are now 2 years on, and have seen droughts, deluges of rain, deer and rabbits.  Through all of this my respect for trees has done nothing but grow.  We would estimate our tree losses at less than 10%, and much of this can be replanted from young seedlings we've been growing on for the purpose.  Some trees lost some of their top growth, but their will to live is so great that they have sent up fresh growth from the base.  Many buds are already starting to swell up in readiness for spring.

If you are thinking of planting any trees my advice to you is go for it.  If you are a novice why not, like us, eye up some trees you love this year, and wait to the autumn to select some seeds.  You can plant them into a spare bit of border or some pots, to plant out in a year or two.  And if you've got children they will love it.