Unsuspected treasure in the Tree Nursery

Rhubaaaarb ! Hahaha ^^

 And it is very satisfying to see a seedling. (This is a baby wild cherry)

Watering : an essential part of the daily routine

No watering, no growth ! ;) 

 

Weeding, an essential part.... even surgical weeding !

Have you heard of surgical weeding ?
Well, I haven't til its discovery at the tree nursery. Weeding is necessary to use less chemical products on the plants. 

 

Weeding pots, before and after. 

Surgical weeding is a precise work to help the tiny seedlings to grow by reducing their "competitors". You need a cutter and a good kneeling mat to do so ! It is really time consuming and at the beginning it is quite difficult to distinguish the ones that you want to preserve and the others.... but the result is refreshing !

Little seeds will grow...

Counting seeds (those are spindle seeds) ...

Putting them into the stratification area to germinate ...

Sowing ...

Repoting (gorse)...

Repoting again (ash)...

And planting ...

... I actually liked it, to do all of these ! Except when it was like a sauna under the polytunnel during summer. ^^

Open day 2nd edition

During the second open day at Clandeboye Estate, which took place the 16th June 2013, I created information panels of our trees. The objective was to understand the wildlife value of each tree such as oak or willow.

 

Another panel was placed in the tree nursery in order to explain all the process of seed plantation.

Finally, we also take care of the truck of the Convervation Volunteers.


Further information of the 1st edition ? Click here.

Activities during the Clandeboye Estate open day

The 14th April 2013 was held the open day in Clandeboye Estate. On this occasion, we, European volunteers of TCV, were in charge of the "Green Machine".
We offered for everyone the opportunity to create badges, test their courage through feely boxes, and to play at a game aiming to recognize the leaves of various trees.

Would you have the courage to pass your hand into our feely boxes?

Badges making in progress...  ^^

For those interested, another open day will be organised the 16th June :

Arboretum & Gardens Summer Open Day
Sunday 16th June, 2.00 p.m. – 6.00 p.m. Entrance £8
Beverages available to purchase in the Banqueting Hall

More info on Clandeboye Estate website

Making orders

From November to March, the Tree Nursery sells their trees.
After reception of a customer's order, labels are created in order to identify each species during the bagging.

Below, a photo of an order before the bagging. Each tree of the same species and the same size is attached together with the corresponding label.

Finally, each order is disposed in a numbered area until its collection by the client.
Note that it is recommended to place an order 4 days before the wished collection date.

Lining out trees

Lining out consists in transplanting a seedling to its final position or to a place where it can develop well.
The tree nursery sells different sizes of the same species. So, in my project, lining out is used to grow species at several sizes. On the picture : blackthorns.