Trees on Shapinsay
Posted: Tuesday, 11 July 2006 |
Many people thought we were mad when we arrived on Shapinsay as we intended to plant trees on this windy island. Around the Castle on Shapinsay you can see a large number of trees so why not try.
We started with some willows and we planted 800 of these in a sheltered corner of our 8 acre field, Another 800 native Orkney trees were planted in the 3 acre field.
Its early days yet but the Willows are flourishing and hopefully next year we should be able to increase their numbers by using cuttings for replanting to increase the numbers and the rows , which make a good windbreak. As for the native trees they are also growing but at a slower rate than the willows. We shall see what the winter winds bring and hopefully even if its a small corner then we may see trees on Shapinsay.
Comments
Clearly you are having a grand time. Keep it up. Yes, indeed, why not take chances when the outcome could be so rewarding?!!
mjc from NM
Have you got a good basket weaver to take the excess willow?
Sunny from Arran
Let us have another updated picture of the chick. Is it going to be a strutting rooster or a productive mama hen? Or do you intend to have a free ranging chicken in pot with neeps when it hits seven weeks? Give us a detailed inside look at island life. I was raised on an island myself, somewhat larger than Sanday though.
mjc from NM,USA
an updated pic of the chick has been posted although I am unsure if its going to be a Hen or a Rooster yet !!!
barebraes from shapinsay
Thanks for updated pictures. May you have many double yolk eggs!! # Do you do your own renovation?
mjc from NM,USA
We are doing all the renovations ourselves, mjc we could do with a hand if you want a holiday !!!!!!!
Barebraes from Shapinsay
I would if I could, Barebraes. Every time I grab a hammer my wife dives for the emergency kit and sidles to the phone ready to dial 911. I can make a good pretense at weeding, and I am all a-glee with a sprayer filled with Roundup (herbicide). My specialty really is giving orders, like King Canute on the beach ...
mjc from NM,USA
mjc how strange life is! Before living here I lived in a place called Canewdon in Essex renown for King Canutes Settlement place HOW ODD!!!!
barebraes from shapinsay (holding back the waves)
Yes, 'tis strange. For your sakes, I hope global warming takes its time raising up the oceans. Do you live on Ward Hill, or by the beach (the two are not mutually exclusive of course: the hill could cliff-drop down to the beach)? Did you get the seedlings (both willows and orkney trees) from a government project, or did you produce them yourself through cuttings (or from seeds?). Just curious.
mjc from NM,USA
Well we live on Ward Hill which is fairl central to the island and a peedie way from the Beaches, All the Orkney Native Trees were grown to around 20-30 cm by a Nursery on the mainland of Scotland from Orkney Provenance and Yes it is a Forestry Commission Project. I am hopeing to take cuttings at a later date to increase the trees .
Barebraes from Shapinsay
Did you plant your trees in tubes? Solid or netting?
apv from Ipswich
All the trees are protected by Acorn tree guards ( netting tubes). Were also trying to grow Hybrid Willows which are not tubed and so far they are about 4-6 ft high.
Barebraes from Shapinsay
Woah! Those willows do grow fast. Is the cross with a native willow and X, or are both X and Y non-native? I suspect the native trees, being adapted, will grow much more slowly. Is that so? APV: what is the benefit of netted tubes over solid ones (or vice-versa)? How tall are the tubes? (how tall were the willows originally, Barebraes)? The tubes are supposed to protect against which animals?
mjc from NM,USA
Well what a lot of questions :)Yes the native trees are taking a lot longer to get going although we are seeing a few poking their heads out of the tops of the tubes . The tubes are 60cm tall and the netted ones let in the light and dont force the trees to grow thin and whispy as the solid ones do. The only pests we have are rabbits and the occasional sheep that strays from its field, The willows were just 2ft cuttings that were buried in the ground with about 1ft abovr the ground (just looked like sticks). Now they are sprouting shoots and leaves. There is a link to the web site of the tree supplier on the blog.
Barebraes from Shapinsay
Interesting. If the tubes are not meant as a deterrent to animals, what are they for? To keep the plants growing straight?
mjc from NM,USA
The tubes stop tiny trees from being blown flat, seared by salt, munched by bunnies and sheeps and/or strimmed. But we won't go any further with the latter, due to mpu sensitivity.
Flying Cat from a woodland glade
There is a link to the web site of the tree supplier on the blog. Barebraes from Shapinsay Where? Could not see any such thing (I looked upper right corner).
mjc from NM,USA
The links were a bit late at appearing I can only suggest that the weekend interupted their publication. Or that the bbc staff were inebriated again HIC!!
Barebraes from Shapinsay
Interesting links. I suspect that Christie Elite nursery catalog could be one heck of a temptation. Particularly during those long winter nights!! I saw such live hedges (done by putting "sticks" in the ground) done in Rwanda. There they are meant to be dense quickly. Given your spacing, how many years do you think it will be before you have a mature barrier? Down the road (so to speak), you could do your own propagation if needed, I presume.
mjc from NM,USA
Interesting links. I suspect that Christie Elite nursery catalog could be one heck of a temptation. Particularly during those long winter nights!! I saw such live hedges (done by putting "sticks" in the ground) done in Rwanda. There they are meant to be dense quickly. Given your spacing, how many years do you think it will be before you have a mature barrier? Down the road (so to speak), you could do your own propagation if needed, I presume.
mjc from NM,USA
FC: thanks for the new word (strimmed, to strim). Not an ordinary American word, though we are familiar with weedwhackers. Rather than rush for the OED Supplements, I Wikipedia-ed it: how lazy can one get!!
mjc from NM,USA
Is a weedwhacker like a bushwhacker?
Flying Cat from tool-hire emporium
The goblins have been at it again...
mjc from NM,USA
the willows are about 1metre apart and in 3 rows and we expect to be able to take cuttings in the early part of next year and increase their density and have a hedge in less than 3 yrs . well thats the theory. God bless the goblins :)
Barebraes from Shapinsay
FC, don't tell me you have been reading Molly Ivins ("Bushwhacked")!! Personally, to take care of in the way Bushes (pere, fils, ainsi soit-il), I would suggest a bush hog (stumped?). Anyway, in America we have weedwhackers (strimmers), but Bushwhackers are more prevalent in the UK and Europe generally. Bush hogs are a mighty fine invention deserving of an owner with baseball cap (Caterpillar) real bib overalls (Oshkosh?), and steel toed boots. Does not look as if Barebraes would need one of those.
mjc from NM,USA
I think I might look cool in a baseball cap and a bibbed pair of dungarees and steel boots. Slightly more attractive attire than the wooly hat and rubber gloves I wear to build walls in.
Barebraes from Shapinsay
I think it is great you planted some trees but with the orkney gales who knows if they will make it.
Caddie from California
Isn't the rule of thumb to check the newly planted trees every spring for five years (for good rooting)? After that, they can be left alone. I suspect that even if only half the trees make it, Barebraes and Paul would be tickled: big achievement and quite an addition to the island vegetation (so I understand).
mjc from NM,USA
If you visit Orkney mjc, go and see Mary's tree-plantings at Redlandhill outside Stromness, which show how quickly trees will grow, given a bit of help and encouragement without mollycoddling. She has made a garden out of a field-on-a-hill in a few years. An example to many lazier gardeners. Not pointing any paws..........
Flying Cat from emporium arboretum
This is quite an informative site if you haven't already seen it. www.growingnative.org.uk. But you probably already have all the info needed from the "tree wife" lurking up a larchy lane somewhere near here..........
Flying Cat from strimming the interweb
Thankyou FC I will check out the site and report back to you anon. You are truly an intelligent and wonderous creature , Our moggies are not PC literate yet !
Barebraes from Shapinsay
Please note, mjc, "intelligent and wondrous". HA! No mention of Caligula here.....*smirk*
Flying Cat from looking worldly-wise
Love what you are doing at Shapinsay and would appreciate any advice you can give. We are hoping to move to an island location over the next couple of years and have started growing a limited seed stock(cuttings stock) of willow and birch . We live right on the beach , so hopefully anything which grows will be extremely hardy and salt tolerant. We hope to hear back from you soon and look forward to your comments. Mike and Ange (sequester8@hotmail.com)
Mik and Ange from Moray coast at Spey Bay.
As a basket maker who is thinking of moving to the Northen Isles,i would be intrested to know which strain of willow you find does best there?Are you growing yours purely as a windbreak or for basket making too?Many thanks,Mike.
Starlight from Slovenia
I planted quite a few trees around the school when I was headteacher of Shapinsay Primary. I hope some survived, because that was when I didn't know much about growing trees. A lot of willows need cutting back every few years, otherwise they blow over, but that's fine if you want them for winter colour (S. daphnoides and coloured clones of alba) or for basketry (especially S. viminalis, but others too) or for biomass. Orkney native willows (like tea-leaved S. phylicifolia) hug the ground and make great shelter belts. If I were starting again, I'd first establish shelter belts of tea-leaved willow, fuchsia, Rosa rugosa, escallonia and flowering currant. Inside that, you can't beat alders (common, grey, and especially red alder) for fast, vigorous growth. After that, you can grow almost anything - wild cherry, ash, downy birch, hazel, aspen.
John Moar from Finstown
We moved here in September 05 and have met many good friends. What more could you want from life.
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