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.