Yesterday, I spent a very enjoyable afternoon working on some fairly mature trees at Ryton. They had got to the point where low branches were attacking people as they walked by, so we gave them a crown lift. For me, this was enjoyable because working with trees is my favourite thing to do in the garden – trees of any size. The fact that these are mature trees also means I have this sense of caring for something which has been in the gardens for a while, and will hopefully be here for a lot longer.
There is something of an art to removing large branches from a tree (if you don’t have or don’t know how to use a chainsaw), so that you don’t damage the rest of the tree. Some of these branches weigh quite a bit, so as you cut through them, the weight pulls them down and splinters the wood, sometimes peeling large amounts of bark off. Instead, we make two cuts, one underneath the branch, then another above and a little closer to the trunk, so the branch comes away cleanly. Then, if you want, you can shout “Timber!”.
Last weekend was Garden Organic’s Potato Weekend, so the whole team have been busy, organising the layout of over 100 varieties of potato for visitors to pick from. I plan to include some of this event in my next video, look out for that soon.
