Time to plant some trees in our small Devon wood

The other week we went to Cove garden centre up the road to get some spuds for chitting. Whilst there we saw they had bundles of hedging whips - hornbeam, field maple, bird cherry, spindle. So we bought  a bundle of each (ten whips per bundle).

Today was the first chance to plant any of them, partly becuase the weather has been so wet and mostly becasue I had a bit of a problem with a stroke that knocked me back a bit and has left me with a few problems with vision.

As there's nothing we could do about either the weather or the stroke we waited a few days and carried on. No point moping about and those whips won't plant themselves!

The plan was to use some of them to deepen the front hedge above the road, plug some gaps in the long hedge running from the gate to the top corner of the wood and plant some of them as specimen trees in the wood where there were some gaps.

I was especially pleased to be able to get the spindle and bird cherry. The former because I hadn't seen many before and they are great for the birds. The only other ones I'd seen were in the small fenced-off orchard in the middle of the field going from Rowley Field in Stratford-upon-Avon over to the Warwick Rd. There are 2 in there.

The spindles remind me very much of good days walking the Welcombe Hills with my friend Ian Andrew. The spindle is unremarkable and not easy to spot most of the year. However, when it fruits, it is unmistakable. We spotted a couple of the spindle trees and thereafter regularly looked out for the distinctive berries. I had collected some seeds but it would take 2 years to get anything started. That made the purchase of the whips even better.

We went up the wood this afternoon with various tools, tree guards, the spindle and bird cherry whips, some microzyme powder to dust the roots with and of course 2 four-legged helpers. Our chosen spot was on the edge of the wood near the newly-laid hedge in front of the conifers. Here was plently of light, shelter and space for them to grow. On our walks up through the wood we could keep an eye on them and in a few years appreciate their beauty.

Digging the holes for the sapplings was surprisigly easy - here it's woth noting that the hill is called 'stony hill' - and we quickly dug the four holes. Honey joined in the digging and as we sat back to admire our work, once again I thought of Ian as I realised we had planted them in a straight line. Too late to change so we set the whips in place with their guards and sticks, heeled them in and went back to the house feeling pleased with ourselves.

A bird cherry and 2 spindle trees set and protected. A 2nd bird cherry is set in the hedge to the left.