We’re busy preparing for the tree planting season, which traditionally runs from November until March.
In reality, with warmer winters the dormant period for trees doesn’t start until December, so bare root trees can’t be planted until then. Most modern tree nurseries are moving away from “bare root” to “cell-grown” (pot-grown) trees, which can be planted earlier. I’m hoping to get started in October with cell-grown trees.
The trees that fared worst last winter were those planted when the ground was saturated in December-February. The clay soil shrunk around them as it dried out and cracks exposed the roots, killing many trees. I hope that this year by starting earlier that can be avoided.
Those trees which didn’t survive hot dry 2025 will be replaced. However I’m planning to wait another year to be more certain which are alive, my past experience is that some apparently dead trees will regrow from the roots the following year. So this winter we’ll probably mostly plant the areas of the site which weren’t planted at all last winter.
In summer 2025, a neighbouring farmer cut the grass in the unplanted half of the site to make hay. By summer 2026 there won’t be much unplanted space left for making hay. The grass will still grow between the trees but as it dies back in the autumn it will mulch the soil, adding much-needed organic matter to the clay. The seven acres of clearings will still need to be mown every year or two (or three?) to stop them becoming scrub, I don’t have firm plans yet for how they will be managed.