2012
/SPRING 2012
As conjectured in the Winter update unfortunately all that lovely drought breaking rain has come at a cost and a large number of trees have not survived the inundation. Particularly hard hit were the most recent years plantings with nearly 30% of young trees not surviving . Very stressful all around! In addition to the new trees most of the avenue of Chestnuts died which was sad as they were starting to reach a couple of meters in height after starting out at about 300mm.
Unfortunately all the trees in the ground were planted under drought conditions and so when the big wet arrived neither the trees or the way in which they were planted was prepared. On the bright side the Cockchafer grubs which had been in plague proportions, over a hundred to the squaremeter in places!, have also drowned. When a test pit was dug not a single Cockchafer could be found, just a very "earthy" smell!
The other bonus is that for the first time in many years everything is properly green again which has put a smile on many faces particularly the farmers.
Sadly this line of Chestnuts all drowned during the big wet this winter. The Chestnut Avenue has now been replanted with the Chestnuts on raised islands of dirt.
WINTER 2012:
Finally the drought which has been running for about 12 years has finally broken and it certainly did get wet. In fact for a couple of months Deans Marsh become a marsh again. While it is wonderful to see so much water around I do have concerns that a number of the trees may suffer as a result.
AUTUMN 2012
This years was the first year that I started planting in Autumn rather than in Spring. As a result this years planting was much more pleasant both for the planters but also hopefully for the trees as well. For the planters the weather was much warmer and the ground was mostly dry, notice some planting pictures from earlier years! For the trees they were well watered in and as the ground was still warm it is hoped that they will get their roots settled in before their growth rates drop back significantly over winter.
Andrew Griffin helping out with planting.
SUMMER 2012
The drought continues which makes for unhappy trees and an unhappy owner who has had to do a lot of hand watering to keep the trees alive. Most of the grass has died eaten off at the roots by Cockchafer grubs which are in plague proportions in the soil at the moment. The soil is more like sand and cracking in the soil on the flats is pretty severe.