Welcome to our Winter 2012 Newsletter. We would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year and hope that you all had a very relaxing break. As I write this, the difference between this year and last is huge. No snow as of yet and our baby girl has just turned one... how time flies.
I don’t know whether you have noticed but it has been a little windy lately. Many upturned trampolines and lots of broken trees!
Now that the weather appears a little calmer, it might be worth giving your trees a health check. Unseasonable winds may cause cracks in branches or there could be broken branches hanging loose. It’s much safer to have trees checked and managed than to risk them being dangerous.
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Birches and Acers (maples) are best pruned when they are fully dormant or they will bleed sap from pruning cuts, weakening the tree. We also recommend that now is a good time to prune fruit trees – Apple, Pear and Plum etc.
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Due to the low emission zone legislation we have had to update our fleet.
Our newest addition has an Autumnal theme, look out for it on your travels!
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We still have some seasoned hardwood logs for sale:
Please get in touch for further details
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We are now able to grind out bigger stumps within DFTC thanks to our new stump grinder. Please see our website for more details or give us a call.
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The Quince tree has pretty pink ornamental flowers amongst newly emerged pale green, felted leaves. Some are self-fertile but all are popular with bees and have rich golden fruit.
These golden fruits are easy to use as cooking apples and full of Vitamin C and pectin. Quinces have also been highly prized in Greek mythology: ‘The Golden Apple’
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Planting berry and fruit bearing shrubs is a great way to attract birds to your garden and also provides them with food and shelter at important times. The excellent thing about these plants is that the seeds are dispersed via the animals which eat the food – the most important of these being small birds, therefore you are not only providing food but helping to contribute to the growth of new plants which will do the same.
These plants draw attention to the edible berries with bright colours; orange and red berries on evergreen and late summer plants to show up against the green leaves, and purple and black seeds on autumnal ripening plants to contrast the yellow and dead leaves of the season.
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Birds eat the berries depending on size and availability and so you cannot attract specific rare species through your choice of plant. The upside of this however is that any fruit or berry bearing plant is likely to draw lots of birds into your garden.
A few plants that we would recommend are:
Each plant has different features and colours and so it is always advisable to find the right one for your own garden. If you would like any advice on this we are happy to help and can also supply and plant from single specimens to large planting schemes.
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Tree roots usually grow close to the surface and it is not uncommon for them to extend underneath hard surfaces (such as a driveway). This can lead to cracks as a result of pressure, however this is most often superficial damage. You could repair or replace the surface itself or prune the roots or remove the tree, although this is not usually essential.
Tree roots can also block drains but do not usually cause the initial damage and will only enter previously damaged and leaking drains. If drains are watertight, roots should not affect them. In these cases, repairing the drain should fix the problem.
Root damage to buildings is much more rare than drains and driveways and is usually caused by subsidence (an entirely different issue…see below). Therefore damage to drains or driveways is not a sign that your house will be next.
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- Trees only cause subsidence on shrinkable soils (ie. Clays).
- Tree related subsidence depends on many variables and therefore is almost impossible to predict.
- If it occurs, damage is slow and progressive and is often inexpensive to correct when caught early.
- It is less common on newer properties, as building on clay soil now requires substantial foundations.
- The most common tree related subsidence occurs on conservatories and extensions. This is due to the secondary build not being tied in sufficiently to the original house, inadequate foundations or varying foundation depths to the main house.
If you want to know more about this please get in touch,
we are always happy to help and advise…
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Pollarding is a poorly understood arboricultural technique that has a long tradition in the British landscape. Pollarding involves tree surgery to cut back the crown of the tree back to the trunk and allowing new branches to sprout from the cuts, also called Pollard heads, Originally this was a technique used to prevent the economically important new growth from being nipped back by browsing animals.
Pollarding is a practice widely used today by tree surgeons throughout Europe, very commonly seen in regional France, in managing street trees, though without regular tree surgery maintenance a tree that has been pollarded can become potentially hazardous. Large pollarding cuts may also allow decay fungi to enter the tree, which can cause further complications.
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We have had a good end to the year here at DFTC with a good strong team of lads and lasses. Newest boy Tom Ient is coming on well and we will have him using his gymnastic skills up in the trees in the New Year. We have Tracey and Michelle sharing the office management and giving us good organisation and foundations in the office to help us grow as opposed to retract through this ‘recession’ that we would rather not take part in! We all look forward to being of service to you this year and hope that you have enjoyed this latest edition of our newsletter.
On behalf of us all I wish you an Olympic 2012!
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That’s all for this edition.
Kind regards,
Dave Ford ND Arb
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