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In search of naked giants

hello 

When it comes to giant trees Studley Royal Deer Park, Ripon, North Yorkshire has some awesome examples doted about the open parkland. When trees grow in open parkland they are able to grow unobstructed in every way creating magnificent giant characters that are now often only found in storybooks. Imagine how it must feel to be a tree growing in parkland free from the rivalry that growing in woodland brings, to stretch out and be yourself to be able to be whom you are meant to be, free as a tree can be. So for chilled out trees these open parks are an ideal place to view a tree who knows who they are. Also with it been late winter you get the added bonus of seeing them naked, with not a leaf on. Trees with leafs are admirable but there is nothing like a naked tree to really get to know it up close and personal. It’s believed some of the tree’s in this park have journeyed around the sun some 300 times or so. Can trees get any better than this, of course as some of these are sweet chestnuts, come this autumn another visit will surely have to be in order.

please don't eat me

As you can see this oak tree is totally awesome, with Carrie standing next to it you can get an idea of the magnitude. Just imagine the size of the root structure underground with a trunk base the size it has, mind blowing. A little extra gem with this oak is the fact that it has a window. Unfortunately as you can see from the photo below this must be a summer residence only for the tree elves as they not home today, sadly they have even removed all of their furniture.

reach out

lets look through the oak window

empty house inside the oak tree, awesome 

Next we have this sweet chestnut tree, how about one of these in your forest garden back home, you certainly wouldn't be going short of nuts. These trees have just the most wonderful bark. We're both so in love with these trees.

I love you

epic sweet chestnut tree

wow, so cool

sweet chestnut bark

here I stand waiting for you

Take a moment to think about all the changes this oak tree has lived through. When it was planted there were no aircraft ripping up our skies only the genital flutter of birds and the soft hum from alien space craft, the industrial revolution was just beginning. War up on war has come and gone and after all this here stands the mighty oak waiting for somebody to come along and listen to its story.    

listen and I shall share a story of a land long forgotten 

I'm going in

It’s not always easy been a tree living on open parkland especially when you are on a hill, lightening’s a dreaded thing. Walking around the park we came across several trees who had paid the price for growing so nice. Some are shadows of their former lives now just lying on the ground waiting for nature to take her course. Others have been more fortunate only lousing a limb here and there. We discovered this oak that has had a limb blown off with a lightning strike not so long ago burning a large part of it away and creating an entrance revealing a hollow trunk.  

the inside of an oak tree that is still growing 

Angle Shades Moth Caterpillar

Found this in my car today, its an Angle Shades moth caterpillar, Phlogophora meticulosa. Awesome find.

Imbolc

honeysuckle

The beginning of February brings the pagan celebration of Imbolc where the first signs of spring are said to be felt. After a very mild winter so far in the North of England already the woods are starting to come alive, the honeysuckle has a show of new leaves whilst the dog’s mercury is starting to straighten from its bowing position of new life responding to the longer days. After walking through the woods today spring may not officially be here but its presents is starting to show. In the garden Blackbirds are busy building their nests. The question is will winter return.     

  

Mercurialis perennis, commonly known as dog's mercury

fruit bushes and water

Blackcurrant bushes

The weather so far this winter has been what you could say wet, most day’s it seems to rain at some point though we are very fortunate in so much as we aren't living in an area where the water has entered into our living rooms uninvited. Even with all this rain the soil at the allotment is keeping well drained, the paths between the beds on the other hand  have become waterways. A couple of weeks ago we planted 3 Blackcurrant and 3 Chuckleberry bushes, hence how I found out how good the soil was by talking to all the worms that came to see what I was doing putting a spade into their world, something we are trying to do as little as possible of this year.  

As you know last year we moved lots of soil to create an allotment with plenty of edge and no dig beds moving away from what has become the traditional straight line growing method of British allotments. Our aim is to grow food that is far beyond organic by growing using pollycultures. In the coming weeks we’ll talk more about what we are going to be planting and why but for now we just wanted to share a few photographs of what January has been like.

more rain to come

a little wet

small is beautiful

Here are a few photos from the allotment this year showing some of the little guys who helped spread happiness over the flowers and on to us.

our allotment review of 2013

We got our allotment around the middle of May 2013, this was the first year for growing on the allotments so we had to start from scratch on land that had been paddock for many years. When we first arrived the land had been ploughed, worked then divided into plots with woodchip paths laid out around each plot, the rest of it was now up to the new tenants. Awesome, let the fun begin. This is a collection of photos moving through the months up until December 2013.