The cold-snap at the end of November provided us with some lovely wintry scenes...
The cold was tempered with brilliant sunshine and very light breezes when we set about replacing a casualty from the harvest.
In October last year, we planted a Texana Oak for Friends of Catton Park.....
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Unfortunately, this was 'clipped' by the harvester in August, which mangled the tree guard and damaged the young tree. Surprisingly, the base was still in leaf but not expected to thrive (see below)...
The rest of the day was spent continuously loading woodchip into the jeep, transporting it over to the edge of the west woods and mulching the shrubs in one of the planted beds. That certainly kept us warm!
Much of the next visit involved clearing some elm from the edge of the west woods near Victoria pond plus removing a ton of ivy that had got a stranglehold on a large oak tree.
Armed with loppers and pruning saws, we cleared an area beside the oak and dragged the young elms into the woods behind. Then we started to remove the ivy, which had completely covered the trunk of the tree. With the added use of a crowbar and hand axe, we finally managed to remove a metre section of ivy.
You can probably make out the tangled mass of ivy around the tree on the right of the picture!
A couple of the planted beds along the fence-line near Church Street entrance needed checking over. Some of the plastic guards had grass growing out of them, it was a case of clearing them to see whether the young plant has survived. Not all of them make it, these are replaced with new 'whips'. Where possible, we plant extra to enhance the cluster.
We then spent the afternoon mulching some of the 'metal caged' parkland trees.
The final visit before the Christmas break involved planting more 'whips'. This time we were at the Recreation ground, filling in gaps along the fence-line (by the cricket pitch) with a mixture of young plants provided by the Woodland Trust.
Back at the park, I helped Amy take some plant cuttings, something i'd never done before. We selected various plants from a couple of beds in the picnic area and carefully snipped them before placing the cuttings into soil filled tubs. It will be interesting to see how many manage to root in the coming months.
That's all for this year, Merry Christmas to one and all. Looking forward to 2024!
