Woodland

A question about : Woodland

Hello everyone!

I am moving to the dream home hopefully within the next 7 days, it has just under an acre of land and Im so so excited/overwhelmed to go from a concrete patch to a field! It has a horse and pony on it at the moment, so is a big muddy field because of all the rain.

For financial reasons we are going to securely fence approx a third of the field into a garden which will be our main doggy safe area where I am hoping to build a small vege plot next year (another project!).

The rest will remain with horse fencing until we can make it safer for our dogs (surrounded by fields and animals one way and big road just up our shared drive). The bottom half leads to a stream which Im going to find out if we have any ownership of as I would love to clear access to it and start a woodland type area down there. Its very flat and has apple and pear tress that are already heavy with fruit (so exciting!!) and would love to add other trees etc to make it a private area which feels lovely and rural.

It is pretty flat and quite coastal, not sure about what soil is there. Just wondering about tough hard and easy to grow tress that will help to start the woodland, and what other pretty wild plants you may recommend?

I am honestly so excited to kick this whole project off but am also pretty new to plants and tree growing/ownership!

Thanks for reading, and any advice!!

Jodles

Best answers:

• You simply can't do what you want without planting Silver Birch, it has to be your tree of choice and is not unruly.
  Cork bark Maples etc, it really then depends if you want an open gladed type ares or a dense tree mass, former works best.
  Oh trees usually work best in multiples of the same variety, 3 is a good number.
  DH is in the last stages or purchasing about 14 acres of meadow land behind their house, that too is an open canvas but does have a small brook as a bottom boundary and some nicely wooded banks, bluebells etc. That could be a flower for you.
• I'm a bit concerned that you don't know exactly what you have ownership of! Land Registry plans won't tell you who is responsible for maintaining which side of a boundary, but they should indicate clearly where the boundaries lie.
  If the area is coastal, you will be looking for windbreak trees which can stand up to salt winds, so holm oak and some varieties of pine come to mind. Deciduous trees will be available from November as small bare root plants, which is more economic, and it's better to plant these than pot grown stuff. Somewhere like this will give you ideas:
  https://www.hedging.co.uk/acatalog/index.html
  If you have animals around your plot, you need to look at neighbour's fences/hedges too, as not everyone is careful about straying livestock, and a few sheep can trash an area of new planting very quickly!
  For this reason, and because it's a long term project, I wouldn't rush intro anything, other than the veg plot, until you've been in residence a year. Land can spring some interesting surprises and until you know it well, your choices for it won't be the best.
  If you want to get on with the trees soon, make a nursery bed and grow very small ones on for a year. I did that with yews for formal hedging, and later with hornbeam too. I had some failures with the bought-in small plants, but lost none when the two year olds were planted out, so no gaps and very cheap.
  Finally forget wildflower meadows for now. It's a specialist thing and there are plenty of garden plants e.g. eupatorium, buddleia, geraniums etc, that sit well in a natural area, stand being strimmed down annually and give no hassle.
• Thank you for your replies! I love the look of birch trees so would be happy to try a few of these! And Bluebells are gorgeous!
  I can find out where our boundary lies without too much problem but we haven't exchanged yet so dont have access to paper copy. The farmers fencing is nice and basic, only negative from a garden side of view is it has barbed wire so would want to put other fencing up eventually to make it safe-our side only would leave the other fencing. The stream is fenced off with basic fencing and barbed wire on both sides so I am just not 100% sure at the moment.
  Going to a talk from a local organic gardener next week so will also check it out with them!
  Again thanks for the replies!!
  Jodles
• you're so lucky - this is as close as I've got:
  https://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/forestry-...-sussex-7.html
• We made an offer on the house in April so have seen it through the whole of summer, its literally just a field used for cattle and sheep before horses! No plans on rushing though won't be able to afford to rush! Just thinking ahead as trees take a long time to grow so thought the sooner the better if that makes sense! The rest will be left as field/garden and will harvest the lovely fruit already growing.
  Thanks all!
  Jodles
• Just double checked boundary lines, looks like it is the stream edge, I have an eway file so just had to logon. That doesn't affect my idea just means the stream will lie over the boundary, will still make a lovely shaded woodland area and be good use of the space. Pinterest does make my imagination soar!
  Jodles
• You do realise that you can't just fence off a bit of field to turn into a garden. You need to apply for planning permission for change of use and it is quite hard to come by as the planning departments quite rightly don't want to see fields given over to domestic planting. I suspect the same may be true of planting trees. You need to get advice as the las thing you want is to do iut d then have an enforcement to reinstate the land.
  Olias
• Haha hadn't even thought about the agricultural aspect, but no its included as garden with the house as far as I can tell from the reading, its to small for horses really which is why they are selling, no restrictions as it is garden! But good point to be aware of!
  Jodles
• Another thing to bear in mind is that your local farmer won'y view it to favourably if you cast shade from 60ft high trees over his prime land, not that that would be your worry however.
  There's an old adage in gardening circles, "He who plants trees thinks of overs than himself", well I recall that being pretty close
• Wildflower meadows are easy to establish and a cheap option for a large area. You can buy seed mixes of native plants and just sprinkle them on the bare ground to boost what's there. In terms of maintenance all they need is a couple of mowings per year. If you don't have a decent mower/strimmer you should be able to get a local farmer to do it for you - just make sure you design in some access for the machine.
  The mowing ensures the flowering rate is good and re-seeding happens. You can buy generic mixes, ones that support birds and bees, and some for woodland areas, wetlands, marsh.........Have fun with it. The good news is they re-seed themsleves each year and the plants that suit the conditions will thrive.
  Buy from a reputable supplier who sources their seeds sustainably. This is a good one;
  https://www.bostonseeds.com/products/...-Mixtures-100/
• Not checked that link but a lot of the seed mixes have concerned me.
  If you are sowing next to grazing land please check none of the contents have plants toxic to grazing animals. A very large number do.
  Other generic mixes have lovely plants but not native to areas or even uk, We've loved those we had in our back garden this year.....but they included non British varieties ( a cheaper mix).
• In many cases its actually beneficial Davesnave .
  My particure groipe is some thing sold as a 'meadow' mix ( and often available in large packs by specialist companies, should be suitable to be used as a 'meadow'. On one very grumpy day I called a company about a claim and their answer was it wasn't their job to know what was mildly or fatally toxic to what, but that they could make me a mix to my requirements ...
  I think the toxic ones deserve places too fwiw, but away from aways they can easily seed neighbouring land or where you might let a trio of sheep run, or a pair of pet goats.......or even your kids' pet rabbits. Front gardens in urban and suburban areas might be perfect, and parks. Many are the SOLE resource for some bugs and butterflies, so we do need them, its just a matter of where. Wouldn't wild flowers on central reservations be nice?