They thought it was all over...

Well last week was the official end of the season, as decreed by our chairman, but Brian phoned round on Thursday night looking for volunteers to help with some planting at Bolster Moor farm shop. So there we were, planting heathers and other ground covering plants in front of the car park of the new Bolster Moor farm shop. We did get a section of pork pie each, and the sun did shine. Attending were, Brian, Peter, Trevor, Philip, Dan, Duncan and myself.

END OF THE SEASON

There were just three of us for the last day of planting this season, Geoff, Guy and Philip. We began by planting self seeded ash saplings out in the tree beds at the nursery. The main job of the day though was to plant 250 holly at Netherwood Farm as part of our ongoing 'beating-up' policy. This task was made alot easier due to all the holes being dug beforehand, so we just had to plant the trees. This allowed Geoff time to take some footage for his film about the Tree Society. And it allowed all of us to lie in the sun looking up at an aircraft free blue sky. Netherwood is a great place to be on a sunny day, even though there was a steady breeze. The only thing that was not ideal was the lack of cake.

Netherwood Farm and Wholestone Moor

The last day of the season? Fingers crossed. We started up at Netherwood Farm, where we were "beating up", planting new trees in and amongst previously planted stuff. Not everything on this site has thrived, so we were augmenting it with more Hawthorn and Oak. I think around 150 trees got planted. Dave and I left after cake break, and went back to Wholestone Moor to finish off there. We planted around 90 trees up there, though we left some unstaked and unguarded. The important thing was to get the trees in the ground before they start their spring growth. The site is now very well fenced, so the trees should be safe enough from grazing. We will pop up there sometime in the Summer to finish off. Today's cake was a splendid and substantial Bakewell tart. We worked quite hard this morning, to try and bring the season to a close, I was worn out, but still ceremoniously washed my gaiters and boots after we'd finished. I don't bother to clean my kit all winter, just when I think we've finished.