After lots of seed gathering in Autumn 2022, the seeds took their time germinating this year. Germination was around 3 weeks later than normal. Consequently the seedlings were planted out later and have therefore put on less growth (pic a). A very poor, cold summer hasn't helped. Hopefully they will keep growing longer into Autumn. We are continuing to give them a seaweed feed fortnightly; until mid-September. Normally we stop feeding at the end of August. The weather (and climate?) have certainly changed over the last few years. Pete and Martin are seen in pic b processing seed for this ..read more

After another very successful year in 2021, where we again leared out of all our mature stock and were able to donate some plants to a variety of projects, 2022 began with lots of germinating seeds. Pic.3 shows the tables after they were all transplanted into the four beds now set aside for them, albeit up to three weeks behind schedule. The more mature plants have already put on prodigous growth, but we now have to shade net them as this hot summer weather is more than they're used to. The seedlings, too, needed hoops and netting to stop them cooking in this heat!  ..read more

During the winter and into Spring, Chris has built a fabulous new pond. The old one leaked quite a bit. A lot of excavation was required; then a new liner was added and stumps of wood positioned around the edges. Wild flowers will gradually be added to finish off the perimeter around the pond. New pond plants will also be added over time. A couple of ducks have already been spotted checking the pond out, plus a sparrowhawk spent some time in the area recently. A great wildlife habitat in the making. Lots of old, dead and sad looking plants have been heavily pruned now, to open up the site. T ..read more

Despite all the restrictions and problems associated with COVID we germinated, planted out and kept alive an increased amount of plantlets. During Autumn we sold every available plant within two months of sending out our sales list.  We have therefore grown more plants and sold/distributed  more plants than the previous two years. A very successful outcome in a challenging time. In Winter hedges have been trimmed, areas tidied and Hazel coppiced in our annual clear-up, which is now coming to an end. As can be seen from the photo, no weeding etc.. is possible while it is 3 degrees a ..read more

After successfully transferring all the germinated seeds to boxes between the three of us, some of our volunteers made a very welcome return after a safe routine was established. A very basic wash station is now in place and everyone keeps to separate pathways. Having 4-5 extra pairs of hands enabled us to keep on top of the weeding and general maintenance. The germination rate of the seeds gathered was very impressive considering the lack of any real winter weather. We normally assume that between six-ten weeks of cold weather will vernalise the seeds. They certainly didn't get this, but it ..read more

Chris, plus Anne and i are continuing to maintain the tree nursery in these difficult times. Regular checking of the stratification boxes has yielded another 7-8 more bags of germinating seed. There are only 12 bags left now. Indeed, 8 of these are 'slow' germinating seeds. We therefore hope/expect only a few more bags to produce germinating seed before the end of April; which is effectively the cut-off time for germination. Anne has hosed down the trees every week for 2-3 hours and we have put all the baby Yews and Holly into trays, plus re-potted about 30-40 of the Hollies.  We are exp ..read more

Obviously life at the nursery has changed somewhat dramatically in the past few weeks. Just as we were finishing winter tidying and prun- ing tasks, lockdown restrictions were imposed. As a consequence, all our volunteers, bar Chris and myself, now have to stay away from the nursery. Luckily we had almost finished tidying and pruning the nursery. The last week we all gathered saw all the fruit trees judiciously pruned and the willow area tidied up. Currently chris comes in on fridays and myself(+my partner Anne) turn up on monday.  Principally, we check the stratification boxes and water/wee ..read more

We have just started examining the seeds contained in the stratification box. Two weeks in and 10 bags of seed have germinated so far. Hopefully this is the beginning of a successful year of germination. The germinated seeds are now in a seed tray and protected from predation by wired tops.  After selling out of all our trees at the earliest period i can remember, we have now almost finished transplanting the junior stock into their new beds. Over two beds remain empty, showing the lack of junior stock coming through, despite increases in seed gathering recently. It seems we can't keep pace ..read more

Most of our customers took the opportunity to pre-order their plants in September. By mid-October the long order bed was completely full as more and more orders came in. A very busy sales period ensued, from October until Christmas. This resulted in most of our sales stock being sold; leaving us with a very meagre selection of plants coming into 2020. Another excellent sales season with an ever increasing loyal customer base demonstrates the quality of our plants and serves as a reward for the attention lavished on them by our volunteers during the growing season. We are now entering that t ..read more

A solid summer of watering, feeding and weeding has meant most of our seedlings remain alive and the more mature stock of trees have gained a fair few centimeters. Beds have been repaired and hedges tidied. Although we still have less than half of our usual stock, due to increased demand, our stock levels are gradually increasing. ​ Most of the volunteers even had time for a picnic in one of our volunteer's woodland, bringing home-made bread, biscuits, pate, quiche and beetroot and potato salads....delicious. ​We are now entering peak seed gathering season. After collecting our first seeds ..read more