Well dressed trees

Nicholsons landscape section has been busy at home as well as in the office choosing and dressing their christmas trees. Myrtle, Amber and Floyd (trees all have a name at Nicholsons) are now all installed, dressed and sparkling at homes throughout Oxfordshire.

If you have a photo of one of our trees with its finery on please e-mail it to me karen@nicholsons.gb.com and we will upload as many as possible to show just how lovely our trees are. If you still don't have a christmas tree we have a few left so come in soon and pick up Wallace or Jasper or Rupert or Mungo or Sophia or Germaine and friends.........All looking for loving homes.

Chester went to Deddington......

Holly got dressed in Adderbury....

The Beech!

After nearly two weeks of cutting this beech tree in the heart of Oxford is now down! The tree was in a state of terminal decline because of root compaction which had happened by the builders.

We tried the previous year to rectify this by teraventing the area around the tree and fertilising the tree.

We reluctantly took the decision to remove the tree when it did not show any signs of improvement and a root rooting fungus Meripilus giganteus appeared in Autumn 2009.

Each piece had to be lowered in a controlled manner to the ground avoiding the expensive up lighters. The tree was estimated to weigh in the region of 50 tonnes. The timber was taken away for Firewood and the chip brought back to our yard and sent off to a combined heat and power plant to be turned into green electricity!

Christmas Party 2009!

Ho, ho, ho or hic as the Christmas party season came around once again. A big thank you to Directors Niel, Liz and Tim for a lovely party of superb food and excellent company! Personally I love working for Nicholsons and it was great to catch up with all the Nicholsons team from each of the three departments of Plants, Forestry and Landscapes. The best secret Santa present went to Mike Tustin - the fellow giver obviously knows him very well!

Christmas Market success

On Saturday 5th December the Christmas market opened! So come and visit the Christmas experience at Nicholsons which includes a greeting of festive aroma of mulled wine and warm mince pies. Then follow the arrows to Narnia for good looking "named" Nordmann trees which could even win you a bottle of champagne in the prize draw. There are prizes for the children on completion of the Narnia quiz and many tempting gifts for the adults to buy for their friends and relatives. The wreath making workshops have been a great success so ring us to book a space. Shrubs, trees and vouchers also make perfect gifts....

Winter at Nicholsons

Christmas Market Open
The long awaited Christmas Market is open and ready for business - Winter at Nicholsons. There is not only a lovely array of plants and sundries, there are fresh Christmas Trees, Seasoned Logs and Wreaths. Also range of other stalls: Hampers from Eagles Fine Foods, Flowers and Wreaths from Daisies Florists, Whichford Pots, Ornaments for the garden from various suippliers and much more. Open every weekday from 7.30am -4.00pm and on Saturdays from 9.00am - 4.00pm and on Saturdays come and enjoy a glass of Mulled Wine and a Mince pies and watch the wreath demonstrations.

What a load of old Logs

Yes it is really true. Nicholsons have started selling logs, and yes they really are "old". The best logs to burn on the fire are hardwood seasoned logs and these are all that is available. The logs have been seasoned for most of a year and come in 3 bag sizes and can be delivered. There is even a separate website for information: http://www.logs.gb.com/ -come and visit and see for yourself.

Nicholsons at the Globe

On Thursday 8 October The Woodland Trust hosted an evening function at the Globe Theatre, London. The event was a charity fundraiser with a host of celebs. Not least amongst the notaries were a group of well turned out natives from Nicholsons.

The trust had requested that we supply them with a selection of native trees and shrubs all looking their best. So, several oaks, beech, hornbeam, spindle, guelder rose, wayfaring and laurels all found themselves in the bright lights – and were even dressed in hessian for the occasion by the Trust volunteers. They helped add ambiance to a very successful evening for the trust whose auction raised substantial funds for their great work.

Could anybody in the know give some more history surrounding the oak tree that apparently – and obviously in the photo – is growing within the Globe Theatre?

Matt, Sam and Graham step up to the challenge.

The tree had a large cavity in the upper crown and numerous Inonotus Hisbidus fungi brackets from within the crown. A climbing inspection was undertaken and the resistograph micro drill was used at 20 meters up to ascertain the extent of the decay. The tree officer was then happy with the evidence and agreed that this TPO’d tree should come down.

Over three days Matt, Sam and Graham took up the challenge of bringing this tree down to earth. Matt did a good job of dismantling it and Graham and Sam managed to keep up with the wood chipper. The pictures show Matt and Sam before doing the final felling cuts bringing the tree to the ground. The client won’t be short of firewood this winter!

Nicholsons Plants escape from the nursery.

Nicholsons Plants division were allowed to break free from the nursery yesterday to go on a trip out. We were privileged to have a guided tour of the Waddesdon Estate by the forestry manager, Pete. Pete showed us how well the trees and hedges, which we supplied to him over the years, were growing. It was very informative to see a 12 year old hedge planted from our bare rooted plants which had been laid 2 years ago now stood as a bushy, stock proof, Saxon mix hedge 2 years later. The Millenium oak arrow avenue (see picture) was a stunning site and can already be seen on Google maps. It was obvious that Pete and his team work with incredible effort and pride in their nurturing of the parkland.

The second picture shows woodland planting which is seven years old planted using all our trees and shrubs both in bare rooted and potted form. Species included cherry, copper beech, holly, larch, ash, Scots pine and even Davidia (the pocket handkerchief tree).

The third picture shows our transport for the day!!

After our tour of the parkland and woodland planting we were treated to a guided tour of the walled kitchen garden by the head gardener Sue. I have never seen such an aesthetically pleasing, productive kitchen garden ever before. The varieties and quality of vegetables were outstanding and it was nice to hear that the Rothschild family use them in their kitchens on a daily basis. There were unusual varieties of cabbage and potatoes; the greenhouses were full of tomatoes, peppers, aubergine and plants for the house. The fruit ranged from pot grown dessert cherries, peaches, grapes, nectarines and a pear and apple arched walkway to die for. Next came the cut flower area to provide flowers for the weekly, colour schemed flower arrangements.
A big thank you to Pete, Sue and all the staff for putting up with us and showing us around their outstanding areas. The experience was amazing and we have all learnt something new!

Too many trees to choose from...

Trees, trees and what a surprise another tree! It is that time of the year again when I get to break out of the office and visit the plant growers to reserve the tree and shrub stock for the new season. The purpose of the visits is to build a good relationship with other nurseries and find out how the horticultural industry is changing. I can then look at the quality of the plants and reserve the best to be delivered to us in the autumn. Nicholsons Plant Centre still has a sale on to clear out the current season’s stock then in September the sale’s area will be stocked again with a fresh supply of garden plants, ornamental trees, specimen trees and topiary.

A load of old bales!

Back in the 12th century a bishop of Winchester came up with the idea of throwing in a load of barley in a pond to keep it clear, and so 800 years on gardeners are still using this method.

The most efficient way of keeping ponds clear of algae is to semi-submerge barley straw wrapped up in Christmas tree netting, or in the case of some gardeners, in the lady of the house’s tights!

Barley straw rots down faster than other straws and as it rots down it uses up the available nitrogen in the water which algae needs to feed on and grow. So removing the nitrogen leaves very little for the algae to live on and leaves clear water. A very environmentally friendly use for the straw.

Visiting Chelsea

On a recent visit to Chelsea flower show my colleague and I were very impressed with Luciano Giubbilei’s Garden for Laurent–Perrier, with its simple clean lines and textural contrasts. For us it was the best large garden in the show with none of the busyness of The Daily Telegraph garden planting or strange sculptural shapes like the white Brussels sprout that appeared to have landed in the otherwise beautiful Cancer Research UK garden.

I love the small urban gardens-full of new ideas and fun with fresh details and colours. The Nature Ascending Garden was the best for me this year with its built in eco features and strong use of colour. The mix of rampant planting and restrained but stylish detailing made a perfect mix.

I found a lot of the Courtyard Gardens disappointing though, as on the whole they seem to simply reproduce a chunk of countryside that exists already. While this is technically quite clever it is as a photo is to a painting. I want to see inspired design and fabulous new ideas for small spaces-I want to see an exquisite little piece of art!

Of course the exception was The Freshly Prepped Garden by Aralia with its outdoor kitchen and luscious veggies (including the most photographed radish in the country). I wanted to take this one home! Imagine how much more time could be spent in the garden if the kitchen were outdoors and there was no need to keep popping back indoors for more Pimms . . .

(Karen's first blog entry, uploaded for her by Nicholsons)

New Grants for Forestry !

The Forestry Commission have made new grants available to assist tree planting and woodland management.
Supplements are now available for planting close to large centres of population ranging from £500 to £2000 per hectare on top of the 'standard' £1800 per hectare planting grant.
Woodland planning grants are now available with a minimum of £1000 being available per scheme to encourage woodland owners.
Farmers can also now claim the Single Farm Payment money as well as getting annual payments for 15 years on farm woodland.
A new budget for Woodland Improvement Grants has also been announced.
See our web site or speak to Tim or Mike in 'Forestry' for more details

Big Trees for Great Bourton

We were recently asked to plant 2 large container grown conifers at the rear of a property. The problem was that the trees were too large for the access routes.

The solution was to use a lorry mounted Hiab crane to move the trees in over a wall from the road. This actually made for a very rapid planting operation!

Seasoned logs for sale.

The Forestry tree surgery team are busy producing waste timber from their tree surgery works so with their new truck they are bringing it back to the yard. Matt then splits the logs into firewood and puts them into different sized bags to be stored in the polytunnel until they are seasoned. Nicholsons can now offer seasoned hardwood for sale and on each bag it will be stated when the trees were felled and the village of origin. So when you lay your fire think of those Oxfordshire logs and where they have come from. Please contact us for further information on prices.

Transport...

Improvisation is the key when plants need to be collected and transported. Our customer felt that the size tree of this tree was not going to be a problem to take home! We can offer deliveries at a charge but it is amazing what we can fit into a car…..

Lifting the correct way...

At Nicholsons there many items of all shapes and sizes to be lifted and moved. In order to save our backs we organised a staff training session on manual handling. The materials we frequently move are awkward and heavy in the range of large trees, compost and logs. The Landscape team experience a variety of manual handling techniques in their daily work from laying slabs, shovelling and mixing cement. All the staff took part and the emphasis was on the individual and their capabilities of lifting. There is no set law on the maximum weight to be lifted but general guidelines which advise the individual on the best way to lift and to ask for help whenever they feel they need to.

Nicholsons Forestry Reaches the parts that no other Consultant can reach

Tim Shardlow who heads the Nicholsons Forestry department needs to get to some obviously difficult to reach parts on one our clients estate. Here he is heading off onboard the company's LOHR FL500 Air portable light vehicle to visit places untouched by human hand or foot for some time. He obviously does not want to get stuck and so this tough vehicle has been wheeled out to assist. This vehicle is being used to travel around some of the new woodlands which have been planted on an estate to make sure that the weeding has been done properly and that the new trees are growing well following the completion of this years winter tree planting schedule.

Henley in Transition -Carbon Neutrality by 2012

Nicholsons made two presentations at the Rowing and Riverside Museum in Henley this month. The presentations focused on the role of forestry in reducing a carbon footprint. They also focused on the benefit of using wood fuel as part of this process and in so doing enabling good management of woodlands. There currently a great demand for woodfuel and this is helping to improve markets for low value produce, this in turn is enabling woodlands to be better managed.

Nicholsons just keeps on getting bigger

This year the trees that clients really want are getting larger and larger. With our expertise and many bits of specialised equipment we have been able to help many of these clients who previously would have had to settle with trees of a size which are easily manhandled.

So if you want to plant any large rootballed trees and invest in an instant park just let us know and we should be able to plant large trees in a cost efective way whilst increasing their chance of survival.

Nicholsons awarded "Highly Commended" at Grower of the Year Awards 2009

Last night Niel, Merlin, Catherine and I attended the Grower of the year Awards 2009 at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in Hyde Park, London. John Inverdale presented the awards to a wide range of growers from seed companies to edible crops and ornamental crops (our category). We were awarded "Highly Commended" behind the winner who went on to win grower of the year in ornamentals. We are very happy with that as we are a much smaller nursery than the winner and we do not supply plants to the multiple garden centres. The announcer on the microphone was the one and only Alan “voice of the national lottery balls” Dedicoat; Catherine got his autograph for her mum (good excuse Catherine!). I was not as subtle when I asked John Inverdale for his!
An enjoyable evening was had with fine food and the company of likeminded horticultural growers, even if some of them were heavily into their tomatoes!!

Our new tree surgery truck is here! After ordering the truck in August expecting delivery in November the truck did its first job on Monday afternoon. Before buying the new truck the forestry team undertook many calculations on payloads of vehicles and realized that a 3.5 tonne vehicle would not be sufficient as we would be overweight with half a ton of chips! So our new vehicle is a 5 tonne and will be able to take away more chips and timber from site! This has come with many hurdles to jump from a restricted operator’s license, the use of tacographs and getting the team through training courses but it will all be worth it to stay legal!

Don't let the snow damage your plants...

When the snow was bad Niel spent time walking about with a soft brush in order to knock the snow off the plants. As you can see in the photo, the branches of the olive are weighed down by the heavy snow. Make sure that you remember to check evergreen trees and shrubs along with topiary for any damage that the might have occurred. Prune off any broken branches.

Nicholsons in the snow!

Well, the worst snow storms for a while had their own impact on Nicholsons as we were not able to find the plants let alone plant them. Full steam ahead now as we only have 6 weeks left in the bare root planting season.

Enjoy the views of Nicholsons in the snow!! Click on any of the images to view an enlargement.

Planting can begin…

I bet most of you were out on Saturday morning taking pictures of the beautiful views as the frozen fog looked stunning on the trees and hedgerows. What a change on Monday as the rain moved in with milder temperatures to match. It does mean that the frost has lifted from the ground and planting trees can resume. We have begun to pot up the container grown hedging for next year but we still have some left if you are wanting to get your hedge in the ground before spring emerges. Come and visit us to see the stock, we would love to see you.

Hedges, hedges and more hedges

Our return to work has been greeted by some of the coldest temperatures on record which has been a hindrance to Nicholsons. We have been unable to get planting straight away because of the frozen ground. This means that you will have to plant your hedge as soon as the ground thaws out. Hedges should be planted for a manner of reasons. Within the garden they create a versatile boundary or divide which can be used as a formal or informal manner. Hedges are great windbreaks as they filter the wind rather than create a vortex effect like a fence or wall. Many different species of plants can be used to create a hedge to offer colour, texture, security and wildlife appeal in the garden. Should you require any further help on choosing the right hedge then please follow this link: http://www.nicholson-nurseries.co.uk/forestry/forestry_hedgeplanting.htm