I just hate to see what could be lovely trees hemmed into a space that was always going to be too small to allow them to be themselves.
I also hate to see trees butchered to try and fit the plot they are in. There is what could have been a beautiful magnolia grandiflora in the village near me. The owners keep lopping off limbs as they encroach too far. The poor tree keeps trying it's best to grow and flower ... just breaks my heart to see it.
Good luck with the work you've got planned. Bee x
Gardener and beekeeper in beautiful Scottish Borders
A single bee creates just one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime
@gardenerSuze. You are right about burning wood in log burners. Too many people just get hold of any cheap and probably green/recently cut wood which anyway doesn't give good heat and creates soot in the chimney. Should be well seasoned and dried then gives good heat and not pollution.
I’ve had much tree -work done over the years. In order not to stimulate a lot of new growth the best time for deciduous trees to be ‘pruned’ is after leaf fall in the winter. Nov, Dec and January.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
@SueAtoo Thank you for confirming that. I read recently that more woodburners will be used this winter as it is a cheaper form of heat. I guess you have to be able to affort a woodburner in the first place!
I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
In rural areas where storms can bring down power lines woodburners are often the only means of keeping warm and heating a pan of water or food until power is restored. I season firewood for two years at least and check each batch with a moisture meter before using it. I suspect that green wood is sometimes burned by those who know no better, or wet wood if they've no decent storage to keep it dry.
As with bonfires, where wet stuff will choke you with visible, acrid smoke, dry brash and branches burn cleanly with flames and little smoke. I am fortunate to have somewhere to store stuff for the bonfire though and do appreciate not everyone can, but it makes a big difference if you can burn it dry, and is very important when burning firewood.
In Belgium, they grow Beech and Oak as a crop especially for firewood. They know a thing or two. Ash is also good (hence the name?) and apple.
Otherwise you burn what you can get. But well-matured. I think it is now illegal to sell green wood. I have sweet chestnut and silver birch. The sweet chestnut gives off a lot of heat but is slow burning with little flame and tends to spit.. Silver birch is gone in a flash, and all flame. I find that a blend of the two is perfect.
Expect the market price to rise to match demand.
location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand. "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
Neighbours' trees that have been heavily pruned: euclayptus, beech, liquidambar, chestnut, leylandii ... They have all recovered their height in 5 years, but an uglier shape.
location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand. "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
@Woodgreen Can completely see what you say as I lived in rural Lincolnshire many years ago. I was in my garden a few weeks ago there was a woodburner going nearby. Over the course of three to four hours I could smell it in the swirling wind. Wondered if I should go inside but it was a glorious sunny day. Realised when I got inside and later on that my throat was very dry but why should I stay inside!
I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
Posts
I just hate to see what could be lovely trees hemmed into a space that was always going to be too small to allow them to be themselves.
I also hate to see trees butchered to try and fit the plot they are in.
There is what could have been a beautiful magnolia grandiflora in the village near me. The owners keep lopping off limbs as they encroach too far.
The poor tree keeps trying it's best to grow and flower ... just breaks my heart to see it.
Good luck with the work you've got planned.
Bee x
A single bee creates just one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I season firewood for two years at least and check each batch with a moisture meter before using it.
I suspect that green wood is sometimes burned by those who know no better, or wet wood if they've no decent storage to keep it dry.
As with bonfires, where wet stuff will choke you with visible, acrid smoke, dry brash and branches burn cleanly with flames and little smoke. I am fortunate to have somewhere to store stuff for the bonfire though and do appreciate not everyone can, but it makes a big difference if you can burn it dry, and is very important when burning firewood.
Otherwise you burn what you can get. But well-matured. I think it is now illegal to sell green wood. I have sweet chestnut and silver birch. The sweet chestnut gives off a lot of heat but is slow burning with little flame and tends to spit.. Silver birch is gone in a flash, and all flame. I find that a blend of the two is perfect.
Expect the market price to rise to match demand.
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."