Mark's photo
Alison's photos
Team GG had reason to be grateful this morning – the sun was
shining and the morning stayed dry!
After all the recent heavy rain, it was quite a relief. We were working with Tony, the IWC Tree Officer
and his colleague David, planting trees again.
However, today the venue was a new site for us. Foxes Park is a couple of fields orientated northwest
– southeast off Perowne Way in Sandown.
It has a path running through it and is very popular with dog walkers.
In the first field (the northern) six holes had been pre-dug
for us and six trees laid out with all their requirements. The trees planted in this first field were silver
birch, alder, hornbeam, ornamental pear, field maple and a disease resistant
elm. The method for planting was the
same as at Los Altos Park on 14th January.
In the second field four trees were planted. They were hornbeam, liquidambar*, Scots pine
and a wild service tree.
Due to the recent heavy rains, the ground was
saturated. Quite a few of the holes had
to be backfilled before the tree was planted and it was extremely hard
work. The soil was also full of house
bricks and rubble. The clay soil(!) was
keen to stick to the shovels and reluctant to leave them and our boots. At the end of the session, we took advantage
of a handy puddle to clean both tools and ourselves.
* Comment was made about the liquidambar trees that we have been planting. The RHS website states ‘A deciduous tree which grows to 20m tall, broadly conical in outline, with rather glossy, maple-like, 5 to 7-lobed leaves which turn to shades of orange, crimson and purple in autumn’.
Thank you to Mark and Phil for the additional photos and to Tony for the biscuits.
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