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Baytree Garden Centre’s tips on planting trees such as Blackthorns




Mark Cox, from Baytree Garden Centre, offers some tips on planting trees – via a slapstick escapade...

I consider myself a man’s man, akin to James Bond. Men want to be me and women want to be with me. I can’t help it really I’ve always been cursed with being rugged, smooth and devilishly handsome. Sometimes it can be almost nigh impossible to leave the house. I now leave my house through an underground tunnel which comes up underneath Mrs Jones’ clothes line two streets away, therefore mitigating the inevitable requests for kisses and endless autographs from whom I lovingly call my fans.

I had arranged to see David Giles on Tuesday to discuss the problem he was having with a small area of his garden. Tuesday, being Mrs Jones’ wash day, afforded me my best chance of concealment – hence why I’d arranged the appointment for that day. The wind was gusting as I emerged and I had to fight my way free of the damp washing.

Could a Blackthorn be right for your garden?
Could a Blackthorn be right for your garden?

David’s garden was much like many others gardens. There was an area laid to lawn, a paved area and various planted borders around the edges of the lawn. The spot I had come to discuss was the odd triangular shaped area at the bottom. At present it has a really bad small rock garden that David created hoping to add interest.

There is a time in life when all the stars align and, fortunately for David, that time was today as the best time to plant a tree – apart from 10 years ago – is actually now. Genuinely now, the autumn is the perfect time to plant a tree or just about anything else. The soil is still warm giving the roots time to establish themselves before the cold winter months.

So, with that idea in mind, we set about planting a couple of specimen trees in front of the rock garden which we agreed should become a wildlife area. To help foster this this new area it was important for us to plant native trees. David chose a (Betula pendula) silver birch and a (prunus spinosa) Blackthorn tree.

The Blackthorn tree will form a backdrop to the silver birch. Blackthorn, whilst quite a thorny tree grows relatively quickly and will fill the void forming a hedge. The berries will also be great for the birds in David’s garden.

The Silver Birch with its slender graceful trunk and airy foliage will look stunning in front of the blackthorn and when its leaves turn buttery yellow in the autumn it will look simply beautiful.

To prepare the ground we dug a couple of holes which were only just deep enough for the rootball’s roots to go into, though we made sure the hole was at least twice the width of the said rootball. We forked over the large clods of soil that we had dug from the holes ahead of backfilling.

We place the trees in their respective planting holes so that the first flare of roots where level with the soil surface. To the side well away from the rootball we drove a couple of tree stakes into holes before backfilling with the pre-prepared soil. Once firmed into place we tied them to the support stakes with a special rubber band.

Unfortunately, before I could admire my work, I felt a tap on the shoulder. As I turned Mr Jones - screaming ‘pervert’ - struck me squarely on the nose. Apparently he had been shocked to see me rummaging through his wife’s washing line before emerging head first through a pair of her wet knickers.



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