The last planting of our 2014-2015 season saw us putting in 140 downy birches at the Woodland Trust’s field at Ballabeg. Recent rains meant soft ground, so Clive and Colin, having arrived early, had all 140 holes dug in about 20 minutes…
With sixteen planters on hand, the birches were soon all planted ready for the evening rain to water them in. Again we escaped any rain ourselves, so we have had a dry year – mostly! These trees took us to 2,419 for the season, second best ever and well over 10,000 since we started. The alders we planted 2 years ago were flourishing at about 1.5 metres tall. And they were adorned with swathes of cuckoo flowers – see the photo. Vivienne’s post-planting delicious cakes and flapjacks saw us very pleased with life.
We are already planning next season with five plantings now arranged starting in late September.
Our next meeting is our annual barbecue at Ballamaddrell on Sunday 21st at 3 pm. It’s free as a thank you for all our planters and helpers, so see you then. It will be a flower power and flares occasion…
