august 06

guerilla tree planting

in 7 easy steps

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1. find an oak tree or horse chestnut (conker) tree in september or october and collect a bagful of acorns / conkers

2. plant half a dozen of these large seeds in a 15cm pot either on the surface of the soil / (peat free) compost or just below it. do this straight after collecting the seeds. fill up to 10 pots and place in a spot with half sun half shade. don't let pots dry out. all this can be done in a small yard, probably also in a window box.

3. wait a while. by early spring the first shoots will start to appear.

4. carefully repot individual seedlings to their own 15cm pots as soon as they look strong enough to move (2-5cm tall). then wait some more.

5. by the summer horse chestnuts will have grown quickly and be 30cm tall. oaks grow slower and will be half the size.

6. by now the horsechestnuts are ready for planting out, the oaks will take another 12 months. water well then put your pots in carrier bags and take to a patch of land that looks like it needs a tree or two and won't be subject to too much management. don't forget the trowel. small trees are bunny food but through the aeons enough managed to survive the rabbits to create forests so forget the tree guards and fingers crossed.

7. map your planting for future visits then go collect some more acorns / conkers in september for next year's planting.

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october 07

* it's worth considering just what kind of tree you want to plant as native trees seem to desrve some special attention. in the UK there are 33 such trees although the conker tree isn't one of them.