By: Blonde Two
You’ve probably worked out by now that I love gardening. However, my commitment to my backyard is nothing in comparison to that of my middle sister who is a gardener by trade and something of an expert (although she wouldn’t thank me for saying that).
Such is S3’s (Sister Three’s) belief in the power of the green stuff that she planted an acorn a wee while ago now. To be honest I can’t remember exactly which year but it was when all four of us had considerably less grey hairs than we do now.
The acorn outgrew its plant pots and moved house to a dustbin. The dustbin eventually proved to be too small for this mighty sapling so it was given pride of place amongst the native trees at the bottom of Mum’s garden.
It carried on growing until it topped the rest of the trees in the hedgerow and developed a trunk wide enough to hug. If you head up the nearby common now you can spot S3’s oak. In fact, I am pretty sure, if you took your binoculars, you would be able to see it from the top of the Malvern Hills.
A couple of weekends ago I had the pleasure of visiting Mum after far too long a break. And there it was, a hammock hanging from the oak tree. It didn’t take me long to try it out.
All this goes to show what a little commitment, patience and getting outside can do. I am now attempting to follow suit. I found a volunteer (stray) hazel seedling in my garden. I have given it a proper home, and it’s going to form part of my first permaculture food forest. All I have to do now is sit back and wait for my nuts.
Such a lovely tree – hope it lives and lives and LIVES. About 2,300 species use oak trees for some part of their life – including 31 mammals and 38 bird species. Sadly, oaks are being seriously damaged by one species – the oak processionary moth, whose caterpillars eat the oak leaves and eventually weaken the tree and make it more prone to disease. Yet another foreign pest that has been brought to this country unnecessarily. The great elms have virtually gone, larches are vanishing, ashes are disappearing fast. We are a sad lot!
It is indeed a beauty. I think it must have responded well to all the love. A hazel sapling appeared in my garden this month. I have given it a home in my miniature food forest.