Hold on

Two trees hold on to each other.

An added evening bracken bashing session. Rescuing some swamped specimens. We were: myself, Philip, Stephen, Sue and Geoff.

https://youtu.be/Le-3MIBxQTw

Run through the jungle

Another day of  deep, deep bracken bashing,  but nearing the end. We were: myself, Philip, Geoff, Stephen, Steve, Hap, Peter and Ben. Cake was chocolate brownies, with added fresh strawberries.

https://youtu.be/EbI0cMyyw_M

Come all ye

Over the far side of Butterley this week for bashing of the bracken. We were: Philip, myself, Geoff, Dave, Lee, Jess, Steve, Susan and Susan's sister (sorry).

Philip had his peasant shirt on today, so a spot of Fairport Convention for the tune.

https://youtu.be/Id-uy--H8tQ

Hot fun in the summertime

Another day of relentless Wessenden bracken bashing, all so those little trees thrive. We were: myself, Dave, Adrian, Steve, Ben, Tanya, Philip and John. It was very hot, my hi-tech Pro-Trek watch had a bit of meltdown, it gave a temperature reading of 30+ degrees, then refused to do owt else til it had been taken home to cool down.

Cake was a new one,  rhubarb sponge.

https://youtu.be/Bg0tFRea0wA

More bashing of the bracken. We were: myself, Dave, Philip, Hap, John, and Geoff. Sorry, I was a bit late posting this, and can't think of a witty tune for this one. S

Go west!

Philip telling Hap where he can go.

Another Saturday morning Wessenden, bashing bracken and straightening guards. We were: myself, Philip, Dave, Hap, Tanya, Remy and Ben. There was a large amount of jam sponge cake.

https://youtu.be/LNBjMRvOB5M

An unguarded moment

 A couple of weeks ago I was at the golf club talking to groundskeeper Roy about some more planting. He asked if I could pop up there sometime and straighten some guards that had fallen over since we did our planting last season.

So today I popped up, thinking it would take me half an hour to straighten "some".

It was carnage up there, like a forest of drunken men. Some of them were where stakes had broken off at the base in high winds. But lots had manifestly not been hammered in enough. See photos.

There should be no more than a couple of inches of stake above the top tie on a tree guard, in a lot  of cases there were a couple of inches of stake in the ground, and 8 or 9 inches of wasted stake above the top tie.

Here's one I found lying on the ground.

Around 30 trees had already failed because the guards were basically lying on the ground next to the tree rather than being on it. And sheep had got at them.

Hammering in stakes is hard work, and perhaps we should invest in some weightier lump hammers, but people who do find this task a bit challenging could focus on other tasks such as planting or distributing materials.

https://youtu.be/qQvr2eF5zMM

Mansion on the hill

Before, see white house up on hill behind.

After, see same house.

I was away in Scotland, but the indomitable few were; Geoff, Dave, Remy, Ben, John, Hap and newcomer Rob.

They were at Parkwood, finishing off the back field?

Actually have a proper before and after pic of the planting, thanks to Geoff and the Facebook page.

https://youtu.be/WYj7P9I15lU