TREE MUSKETEERS' MEETINGS in 2009 Planting Trees on Hackney
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TREE MUSKETEERS' MEETINGS IN 2009 Planting trees on Hackney Downs, Sun 6th December 2009 After early phonecalls suggesting that we postpone the start of the planting session because of the weather, this "Sunday" suddenly rose to the occasion and presented us with a glorious day. We planted five trees, donated to celebrate a friend's birthday: two Hornbeams and three Native Black Poplars. The Hornbeams join a group of three planted at the beginning of the year; and the Native Black Poplars add to the selection of those along the so-called Poplar Path, which runs from the centre circle to Downs Road. The Native Black Poplars were grown from cuttings taken in Wick Woodland and grown on at Hackney Community Tree Nursery on Hackney Marsh. Afterwards, we planted some Dogwood and Buckthorn hedging shrubs to fill in gaps at the north-east corner of the Downs along Queensdown Road. This is the sixth year of planting on Hackney Downs by TMs. As always, we plant only the number of trees that we can reasonably follow up with watering, mulching and protecting. Protection of trees has needed more emphasis because of the unfortunate increase of tree damage by people with dogs. We now have five Native Black Poplars on the Downs together with six Hornbeams, which increases the amount of native trees there – in addition to the 16 native orchard trees. Since 2004, TMs have planted approximately 55 trees, all of which survive – and hopefully will continue to do so. Thanks to Alison, Bay, Cat, Dianna, Stephanie, Daniel, Eugene, John, Mike, Russell H., Russell M. and Tony; and to Steve from Hackney Arboricultural Dept. for providing logistical support. Planting buffer zone on East Marsh, 15th November 2009 The Olympics coach park will soon replace most of the grassland and pitches on Hackney's East Marsh. To provide some protection for the root area of the established trees, Tree Musketeers and Hackney Marshes User Group have planted a buffer zone of trees along the north-east side of the marsh, by the New Spitalfields Market. This second planting (the first was in February of this year) has added a further 120 or so trees, making a total of about 300. Fortunately the overnight rain gave way to a glorious, warm Autumn day, and the 13 energetic volunteers made short work of the planting and mulching. Thanks to Amy, Annie, Dianna, Stephanie, Vee, Chris, Derek, Dave, Geoff, Eugene, Mike, Russelll and Tim; and thanks to Dean, Freddie and Mark of the Tree Gang for their logisitical support and use of their new "chipper truck".. Say "Trees!" The temporarily hard surface for the parking area will extend to five metres from the new tree-line. Footballers have said the East Marsh is the best turf on Hackney Marshes, and soon it will be lost for the sake of a few weeks of coach parking! It is unlikely to be as good when it is reinstated. Already the hording around the base of the footbridge to the Olympic stadium has been erected on the south-east side of East Marsh, and further disruption will take place after the games if Hackney residents vote in favour of the proposed wind turbine. Find out more facts about the potential impact of this turbine on this HMUG webpage. Mulching recently-planted trees on Hackney Downs, 25th Oct 2009 The beautiful weather – and an hour longer in bed! – stimulated an energetic group of TMs to weed and mulch the orchard in record time. We then moved on to do the same to the three hornbeams planted last winter. Signs of good growth were evident from two tree ties that had been outgrown and needed to be removed. One of the most arduous tasks of the day was trying to stack the equipment back in our lock-up! We are hoping that Hackney Parks Department might find some extra space for us to have a larger one, which would make this operation at the end (and beginning) of a session very much less tiring. Thanks to Alana, Dianna, Sheila, Chris, Eugene, Mike and Russell. Planting trees on Mabley Green, 21st October 2009 Hackney Parks Department organised with Starbucks for their corporate volunteers to get involved with conservation activities around the borough. Nearly 40 energetic individuals planted about 350 small trees and shrubs on the west side of Mabley Green, as part of the Mabley Green Masterplan. Robert Camlin, of Camlin Lonsdale Landscape Architects, was there to explain the plans. The volunteers were supported by Hackney Arboricultural Dept. and volunteers from Tree Muskteers and Hackney Marshes User Group. There was good engagement with members of the public, as happens during most of our events, and one person joined us for the day saying how much he would appreciate the view over the new trees from his home. The Starbucks volunteers were delighted when they looked across the site after four hours of hard work and saw what they had achieved. They left with Mabley Green leaflets published after earlier planting with schools, and a copy of the Hackney Tree Care Guide written by Russell Miller. Thanks to the Arb. Department and to all the volunteers involved, including Dianna, Derek, Mike and Russell. Fertilising Spring Hill Orchard, 12th October 2009 Thanks to Josh from Spring Hill allotments, we had plentiful horse manure from the Lee Valley Riding Centre to fertilise the 22 fruit trees in Spring Hill orchard. The most arduous part of the task was removing competing vegetation from around the trees, which had encroached inside the guards despite the mulch mats and woodchip. Josh suggested that we should add an inch or two of compost on top of the manure to weight it down - some of it had quite a high hay content - and encourage worms to come to the surface and, in doing so, pull down the manure into the soil. We await the results of our natural friends with interest! The trees are looking great, thanks particularly to Chris who has adopted them as his local 'patch' and has watered them through the dry spells. Thanks to Alana, Bay, Dianna, Chris (again), Eugene and Mike. South Millfields maintenance, Sunday 30th August 2009 Seven TMs spent the afternoon maintaining South Millfields arboretum. We weeded inside the guards, removed tight tree-ties, re-fixed and straightened loose and damaged guards, crown-raised some trees with damaged or vulnerable lower branches (so that they will now grow to be 'standards') and installed name labels to replace and supplement the original labels - many of which were damaged or absent. One species, a Chestnut-leaved Oak Quercus castaneifolia may grow to a considerable size; despite having been decapitated some years ago, it has recovered remarkably well, so watch that space! More information about Chestnut-leaved Oak on the Kew Gardens website:- http://www.kew.org/plants/trees/chestnutoak.html We have a planting plan of the arboretum and will be producing an online version in due course, to complement those of Millfields Community Orchard. Thanks to Alana, Christine, Eugene, Mike, Pauline, Russell and Tim. Prior to the meeting, two of us met with friends of the late Prue Poulton to discuss possible sites on Hackney Marsh for some memorial trees, which will be planted this Winter. Prue died quite suddenly in July; she was a key figure in Hackney's environmental scene and is much missed. You can read obituaries to her at www.hackneyenvironment.org.uk, where there is a link under News & Events. A new programme of events will be formulated soon. We shall also be producing our Hackney Trees Calendar again: this is a major commitment in our year, but gives us wide publicity and (we hope) will generate our basic funds for the coming year. Please support it if you can. We shall be circulating details of suppliers when it has been distributed (probably in late October). Solstice Tree Wheel cycle-tour of Hackney's beautiful trees Sunday 21st June 2009 Tree Musketeers met on Well Street Common to celebrate the Summer Solstice with their Tree Wheel cycle-tour of Hackney's beautiful trees. They discovered a Chinese Privet tree in full flower on the Common (above left), which has a beautiful scent. They then moved on to Victoria Park, where they admired a very large Narrow-leaved Ash (above right). The rest of the tour took in St Thomas's Close and Square, London Fields, St-John-at- Hackney Churchyard and Clapton Square, finishing at Pogos Cafe in Clarence Road for lunch. Many thanks to Bay for researching the route and leading the tour. Watering young trees in Springfield Park, Sunday 7th June 2009 After heavy overnight rain, the ground was more ready to take in the larger quantities of water that we had in mind for the trees. Even so, there was initially substantial run-off, and this was a clear demonstration that even torrential rain over a few days is no substitute for water directed ae the base of the tree trunks. At an estimate, the rain had penetrated to a depth of only 25 to 50mm (1 to 2 inches). With the assistance of our trusty trolley of water-bottles (160 litres), our bowser (120 litres) and seven volunteers, we distributed about 1,600 litres of water in the course of four hours. It was encouraging to see that none of the trees was showing any signs of drought distress. Thanks to Tree Musketeers Bay, Diana, Jean, Nicola, Eugene, Mike and Steve, to Hackney Parks Department for the use of their water supplies, and to passers-by who took an interest in our activities.