Frosty Weather!

The recent cold snap has prevented normal planting operation for the Forestry Department, though this should be expected at this time of year. We have been able to take advantage of the cold weather to transport stakes and materials across the ground without site damage. The picture shows part of a consignment of 7500 stakes and tree shelters now in place and ready for use.

Herbaceous Perennials
We have just finished potting up our perennials. These plants come to us as small plugs from a UK grower, we then pot them on and grow them on under cover ready for spring sales. They have a topping of 'potting bark' to keep the weeds off and the moisture in - it saves on chemical weed control. We will have to spray over the next few weeks to keep any fungal diseases at bay, other than that we sit and wait for the weather to warm up. The covered area is not heated so they do have to combat the cold - but not (chance would be a fine thing) the wet!

The range is not exhaustive but there are some good garden standbys in the range, Aster x frikartii Monch, Nepeta Six Hills Giant, Geum Mrs Bradshaw, Verbena bonariensis to name a few.

If you have not already planned to fill those holes in the border or go for a fresh redesign then get in touch or visit the Nicholsons Plants site where we will be putting up availability lists of what we have in stock. Be aware things move fast so place your order early and we will keep the plants for you!

Keep watching this blog and we will post fortnightly pictures of their progress!

Nicholsons Olympiads

Here are our fit and healthy young athletes in transit for the big event. Whilst we did not win the whole landscaping contract for east London we are getting to send some of our native hedging plants to help landscape the sites.

The plants were all individually measured to make sure they were at the required metre height with a bushy habit - having passed the requisite tests they are deemed fit for purpose.

This is the type of instant hedging that is effective and affordable and will be very quick to establish. If you are lucky enough to have tickets to the games keep your eyes peeled for the native mixed hedging and see if you can find one of our green labels still attached - we live in hope!

CPRE Oxfordshire Celebrates 80 Years

The CPRE in Oxfordshire marked their 80th anniversary by planting a native woodland copse on farmland separating the Bicester development area, and Chesterton village. The land was kindly provided by Countryside Properties who own the land, and are managing the development site. We were pleased to help in both planning the plantation, and latterly providing and planting the 80 trees and shrubs. Whilst this quiet piece of woodland may not see many walkers, it provides a backdrop to both the new development and Chesterton, and hopefully will help develop and maintain their distinctive characteristics.

Photo Credits: Andrew Carter/CPRE

harvesting in progress

We are currently involved with a harvesting operation on an Estate in Northamptonshire. The picture shows the machine felling approximately 200 tonnes of pine timber per day, about 200 trees. Following ground preparation with a mulcher, replanting will take place using about 5 trees for every tree felled.

From former farmyard to garden

The Nicholsons forestry team have been helping one of our clients create a garden out of what had once been an unloved farmyard surrounding their new home. A new house has been built on the site in South Oxfordshire, but the grounds around were still rather open and were surrounded by a mixture of overgrown native hedging and fast-growing, but rather thin willow hedge.

After rabbit fencing the entire garden and cutting back the existing native hedge, we have replaced the willow hedge with some 1-1.5m high container-grown native hedging, together with 30 specimen hedgerow trees. We also planted a number of speciment trees in various location around the garden to give the garden more structure and shelter.

Parkland Planting

We were busy in the run up to Christmas helping one of our clients in South Oxfordshire with some large tree planting. The purpose was to introduce new and strenghten existing clumps of trees, within a parkland and orchard setting.

Some 22 trees, including 3 very large Pine (shown), were planted, and are on display for the enjoyment of local walkers, guests, and the passing traffic.

Nicholsons walking on water (almost...)

The Nicholsons forestry team are currently planting specimen trees around a new lake for one of our clients. Included in the contract was the planting of some very large Scots pines on an island in the lake and this required a mini-digger to operate on the island. The civil engineering contractor who has also been working on the site had told us that they would build a temporary bridge to the island to allow us access, but we'd rather been expecting something a little more substantial than this. What's more, the bridge had been set up to take a digger that was somewhat larger than ours.
However, in the usual Nicholsons' way we used brains and quite a bit of brute force to realign the steel joists, got the digger onto the island, planted the trees, and got off the island again without anyone (or anything) getting wet! We're still on site planting more trees around the lake and in an avenue, and the client is very pleased with the end results.

Managing woodland in a galaxy far, far away....

Whippendell Wood isn't actually far, far away at all - its just down the A41 - but its not everyday you get to manage trees on the so-called planet of Naboo - and its certainly a wood worthwhile mentioning. Used as a location in The Phantom Menace, Whippendell is a terrific ancient woodland, owned by Watford Borough Council, and used very well by the local residents. The woodland is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest for the semi-natural vegetation found on the site, and the increasing amounts of deadwood - a habitat we need to see more of in our woods.

We've now come to the end of our first stage of work, concentrating on thinning out the non-native conifers and Sweet Chestnut plantations. We've also constructed a useful turning area for timber wagons - in a safe location away from the main car parking area. We'll be back next year to increase the size of some of the glades, and start to thin out more of the broadleaved areas.

Staff Training Day

Last Monday saw the annual Health and safety day here. The entire staff was collected together for updates on current practices before splitting out into groups, for refresher training on relevant equipment.

The Arboriculture team and landscape teams had refresher courses on all the different equipment that they use, to make sure that they are safe while in your garden. Boys (and girls) with toys.

The Plant centre team caught up on pest and diseases especial some of the more problem ones like Oak Processionary Moth. After that a tour of the nursery to look at all the lovely plants that we have to sell this year. We also looked at the growing trial of peat free compost growing against peat based compost (one of Merlin’s pet projects). The results are amazing and not really what we thought with the peat free trial plants being bigger and bushier than the ones grown in our normal compost mix.

This was an unusual day when we were all on the nursery together.