The Force Is Strong In This One

[poliphilo]

Willow trees are unkillable. The one Matthew took down last year- after it broke in a storm- is sprouting all round its stump. Give it a year or two and it'll have a new trunk- or- indeed- several. Not only that, but the logs he chopped from it are sprouting too- so that the woodpile is a mass of green leaves. 

Comments

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

I've been trying to kill some shrubs in what was once a flower bed at the front of the house but which I'm trying to make into a grassy area. After several years of cutting back any shoots as they appeared, I appear to have finally weakened the roots enough so I can dig them out. At least I have dug one stump out. There are about 6 more to go...

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I love it when things are tenacious of life.

Apart from having Matthew do surgery on the trees when they break we're leaving the fields alone. I'm curious to see what will happen- will they turn into woodland, or what?

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

Oh, undoubtedly they will. Since the EU changed the way they pay grant to hill farmers, the number of sheep on the mountain has drastically reduced and little trees are starting to sprout.

Also, when we moved into this house 30 years ago, we could see right across the field at the back to the playing fields. It is now a wood.

If you look at this panorama taken looking out at the back our house, all the trees from the bottom of the garden to that dark conifer (towards the right hand side below the fluffy cloud) grew up on what had previously been a well-grazed (albeit swampy) field.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I admire trees enormously.

The one thing that might keep them in check here is the rabbits. We have several warrens dotted around the fields. Can the baby trees grow faster than the rabbits can chew them up? We shall see.

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

I think it depends on how many rabbits there are per acre. Also rabbits with plenty of other foliage to eat might leave oak (bitter) and holly (prickly) in favour of grass and other plants, so it will be an interesting experiment.

Just watch that it doesn't turn into a bramble thicket though. The field at the back (rather boggy) turned into a pretty good wood. When they stopped grazing it with sheep, the tiny field across the road at the front just turned into a horrible tangle of brambles which looked like something out of Sleeping Beauty. I don't know whether trees would have grown up through the brambles if it had been left long enough, or whether they would have been smothered due to lack of light. Eventually whoever owned the field had everything cut down and put it back to grass.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I think we have quite a large number of rabbits per acre. After all, no-one's shooting them.

I'll watch out for brambles. There's a clutch of them down by the stream. If they become too assertive I'll wade in with my machete.