Making charcoal

Timber that is not going to be used can be converted into charcoal that would be a clean heat source.

To make charcoal we need a metal barrel, the best would be of 4 feet tall and 10 feet of diameter.

We feel the barrel up with logs of around 50 cm, it can be fresh timber, it doesn't have to be dry.

When the barrel it's full we light a slow fire under the barrel for 3-4 days and we let it cool down for one week.

Willow wood it is very good to make charcoal. With small pieces of wood we can make charcoal drawing sticks.

Pollination

It is always good to encourage pollination. There are some plants that will attract hoverflies and bees that are the insects that pollinate the best.

The plants that best attract them are:

- Marigold
- Nasturtiums

It is good to plant any of the above close to the tomatoes to ease the pollination.

Frost

When watering the plants to pevent form the harmful effects of frost, the watering must be done during the day and the water should go to the soil, never to the leaves, as they will keep the water and it could get frosted.

Dormant plants do not need to be protected that much as their activity would practically stop during the winter time.

When covering a plant to protect it from frost, plastic would retain some heat but not a large amount, it is better to cover the plants with a fleece.


How to cover a plant with a fleece

Tender plants would need to be protected from frost. To cover them we have to take into account that the soil will absorb heat during the day and give it back during the night time. So the fleece has to be placed over the plant during the night, and taket away during the day.


During the high sun of the winter (2-3 pm) the soil will absorb the most heat, so it's good to have soil iwhtou any cover (fleece or mulch).


During the early morning (5-7 am) it's good to have the soil covered because the soil will loose the heat faster.

Bulbs

Bulbs should be planted from September to October.

Bulbs reproduce under the ground, if they are not taken out every year they will multiply too much and will be too compacted, not having enough space to let the plant grow properly what will mean less flowering.

It is good to take the bulbs out of the ground at least every other year.

Here is a guide for bulb depth planning

Planting bareroot trees

1. Dig the hole for the tree using a spade or shovel. Dig the hole two to three times as wide as the root ball and about 1 inch shallower than the height of the root ball.

2. Remove the evergreen tree from the container and examine the roots. Use your fingers to loosen any roots that are wrapping around the root ball. For a ball and burlap tree, keep the burlap secured to the root ball.

3. Place the root ball in the center of the hole. The top of the root ball should be slightly above the level of the surrounding ground. Add or remove dirt from the hole if necessary. Do not put the tree roots in direct contact with the compost

4. Back-fill the hole halfway with the soil removed from the hole. You may also amend the soil first with organic matter.

5. Finish back-filling the hole. Water again to compress the soil, adding more soil if needed. Do not place soil on top of the root ball.

6. Apply 2 to 3 inches of well rotten black crumby compost (mulch, FYM)or pine bark or leaf mold, around the tree. Keep the mulch about 3 inches from the trunk of the tree. The manure will:

• Avoid weeds from growing
• Keep moisture around the tree 
• Increase worm activity

In Ireland the best time of the year to plant evergreen trees and shrubs is from December to January.

Transplanting a tree

To transplant a well grown tree we should cut around half the roots one year, between December and January in the dormant months, and the next year, the other half so the tree does not get under shock cutting all the roots at the same time.

From September to November the sap will go down from the leaves to the roots, so the roots will keep growing even if the leaves are falling. From November to January the roots will not grow. In February the sap will start going up and will make the tree grow again.

Potted trees

The potted trees are the ones we buy in a garden center and are given to us inside a pot.

The best time of the year to plant fruit and bushes potted trees is between November and March.

The sooner the better so that the roots can start to grow before the buds do.

They have to be planted at the same depth of the pott.

If it is a potted shrub they sould bee planted between November and May, being the best April to May.

Never plant a potted plant after May.

Nursery gardens

There are different ways of planting trees, mainly:

- From the seeds
- From the original plant (cuttings, layering or suckers)
- By pollination


In the nursery gardens they grow trees that they will sell to reatilers or to the general public.

One way of growing those trees is with the seeds or from cuttings.

The seeds or the cuttings will be planted in a first bed where they will be for a year time when some roots will grow. The second year they will be moved to a different bed. This will be done year after year, during at least 10 years. The roots will grow along those years, mainly the:

• Structural roots: large roots that have undergone considerable secondary thickening and provide mechanical support to woody plants and trees.
• Fine roots: Primary roots usually <2 mm diameter that have the function of water and nutrient uptake. They are often heavily branched and support mycorrhizas. These roots may be short lived, but are replaced by the plant in an ongoing process of root 'turnover'. A plant with a healthy mycorrhizas system will give the plant 10-15 times more nutrients and water.

During that time the trees will grow as well as their roots. If they are sold, they would be sold as bareroot trees (B/r). Their prices will go up to 25€.

When the trees grow higher and the roots are bigger, the nursery garden should start balling the roots of the trees. This is done by a machine that will take the roots out from the soil, with a big amount of soil around it and will put a net around the soil and the roots. The machine will rootball and wrap the roots all together.

Those trees are bigger and are called rootball trees (r/b). They can go from 1 m of diameter in their base to 10 m or more in very mature trees. Their prices are above the 100€ and can be as high as 6,000€ if it a mature tree.

When we buy a bareroot tree it has to be planted between November and March.



When the tree is a rootball one, it will be planted between November and May.

Industrial revolution - How it affected the farming industry

In the old days, before the power of fossil energy was used in planting and cropping, the farmers used companion techniques (like the three sister planting) in order to maximise the space they had for their crops, even if that meant a loss of time.

When the fossil energy started to be used in farming, during the industrial revolution, the farmers could afford to have bigger plots as they hace the machinery to work on them faster. To plant in those big plots had a requirement, there had to be enough space for the wheels of the tractors to go in. That meant loss of space but the machinery saved a lot of time.

There is a very interesting documentary about the impact of fossil fuel in farming


Una Granja para el Futuro from Horatiux on Vimeo.

Manure (farmyard manure, compost, plant manure)

Manure is organic matter used as organic fertilizer in agriculture. Manures contribute to the fertility of the soil by adding organic matter and nutrients, such as nitrogen, that are trapped by bacteria in the soil.

There are three main classes of manures used in soil management:

Animal manures

Most animal manure is feces. Common forms of animal manure include farmyard manure (FYM) or farm slurry (liquid manure). FYM also contains plant material (often straw), which has been used as bedding for animals and has absorbed the feces and urine. Agricultural manure in liquid form, known as slurry, is produced by more intensive livestock rearing systems where concrete or slats are used, instead of straw bedding. Manure from different animals has different qualities and requires different application rates when used as fertilizer. For example horses, cattle, pigs, sheep, chickens,turkeys, rabbits, humans (sewage), and guano from seabirds and bats all have different properties. For instance, sheep manure is high in nitrogen and potash, while pig manure is relatively low in both. Horses mainly eat grass and a few weeds so horse manure can contain grass and weed seeds, as horses do not digest seeds the way that cattle do. Chicken litter, coming from a bird, is very concentrated in nitrogen and protein and is prized for both properties.

Animal manures may be adulterated or contaminated with other animal products, such as wool (shoddy and other hair), feathers, blood, and bone. Livestock feed can be mixed with the manure due to spillage. For example, chickens are often fed meat and bone meal, an animal product, which can end up becoming mixed with chicken litter.

Compost

Compost is the decomposed remnants of organic materials – usually of plant origin, but often including some animal dung or bedding.

Plant manures

Green manures are crops grown for the express purpose of plowing them in, thus increasing fertility through the incorporation of nutrients and organic matter into the soil. Leguminous plants such as clover are often used for this, as they fix nitrogen using Rhizobia bacteria in specialized nodes in the root structure.

Other types of plant matter used as manure include the contents of the rumens of slaughtered ruminants, spent hops (left over from brewing beer) and seaweed.

Crop rotation

If we have a garden of a certain size we would be able to establish a crop rotation system that will help to fight the pests and to improve the use of nutrients by different groups of plants.

If we have enough space to organize 5 beds, we will establish a 4 year rotation.

1. Legumes: They are good nitrogen fixes. They do not like fresh lime
2. Brassicas: They are heave nitrogen user. They do not like lime
3. Alliums: They have shallow roots. If they grow in the same area for more than two years the fungi white-rot will appear and ruin the crop
4. Root/tubers: They are heavy fresh manure users (high potasium and sodium). They have deep roots (potatoes, tomatoes... never plant potatoes and tomatoes together as they will spread a disease from on to the other)
5. Permanent crops (crops that will not rotate every year) 

• Artichoke
• Rhubarb
• Aspharagus
• Strawberries
• Currants
• Apple... 

 In our rotation plan we have to consider rotating also between the indoor and outdoor crops.

Flowering plants

They are divided into 250 groups. In each of the groups there are plants that are edible and some that are poisonous. Each group has similar flowers. Each of the groups would also have specific diseases that is why the crop rotation is needed, so diseases do not get used to the plants of that group.

The most important families are:

• Brassicas (they have buds;  cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussel sprouts...)
• Legumes-Fabaceae or Leguminosae (they have a pod that contains seeds;  alfalfa, clover, peas, beans, lentils, lupins, mesquite, carob, soybeans, peanuts...)
• Apiaceae (carrot family, root crops; angelica, anise, arracacha, asafoetida, caraway, carrot, celery, Centella asiatica, chervil, cicely, coriander/cilantro, cumin, dill..)
• Curcurbit-Cucurbitaceae (cucumber family;  cucumber, pumpkins, luffas, and watermelons...)
• Solanum (Most parts of the plants, especially the green parts and unripe fruit, are poisonous to humans (although not necessarily to other animals), but many species in the genus bear some edible parts, such as fruits, leaves, or tubers. Several species are cultivated, including three globally important food crops:

1. Tomato, S. lycopersicum (they do not grow tubers ant the tomatoes are edible)
2. Potato, S. tuberosum (the tomatoe/berries that grow in the potato plant are poisonous)
3. Eggplant, S. melongena (the tomatoes (aubergines i.e.) are edible)

• Rosaceae (rose family, the seeds look quite similar in all of them;  apples, apricots, plums, cherries, peaches, pears,raspberries, strawberries, rose...)
• Polygonaceae (leaves are somehow triangular, the seeds are pyramidal; rhubarb, buckwheat, sorrels, ...)
• Asteraceae - Thistle (aster means star in greek, its name its related to the inflorescence star form; daisies, fleabane, chrysanthemums, dahlias, zinnias, globe artichoke, sowthistle, hawkweed, dandelion...)
• Amaryllidaceae - Allium (bulbous flowering plant; onion, garlic, leeks, tulips, lily, ....)
• Poaceae/Gramineae (grass family; wheat, ryegrass, oats, bamboos, thatch, ...)
• Rubiaceae (coffee family; coffee, quinine, ...)

Groups of plants

Moss & Liquens	Ferns	Conifers	Flowering plants
Non woody. First plants to colonize Earth. An area where there are moss & lichens it is a clean area. The least moss and liquens there are, the most polluted its the area.	They reproduce by spores. Unlike mosses, they have xylem and phloem (making them vascular plants). They have stems, leaves, and roots like other vascular plants. Ferns reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers.	Plants that produce cones. They tolerate cold thanks to the resine. Pinophytes are gymnosperms. They are cone-bearing seed plants with vascular tissue; all extant conifers are woody plants, the great majority being trees with just a few being shrubs.	They propagate by flowers. They evolved when insects appeared. They were the last group to appear in Earth.

Oaks

An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus, of which about 600 species exist.  The genus is native to the Northern Hemisphere, and includes deciduous and evergreen species extending from cool temperate to tropical latitudes in Asia and the Americas.

Oaks have spirally arranged leaves, with lobed margins in many species; some have serrated leaves or entire leaves with smooth margins. Many deciduous species are marcescent, not dropping dead leaves until spring. The flowers are catkins, produced in spring. The fruit is a nut called an acorn, borne in a cup-like structure known as a cupule; each acorn contains one seed (rarely two or three) and takes 6–18 months to mature, depending on species.

In Ireland the most common oaks are:

Sessile - Quercus Petraea

Peduncular Oak (Irish) - Quercus robus

The oaks are one of the most valuable biodiversity plants. They can support over 300 species of wild life (insects and birds mainly).

Pines can also support a handful.

Ash - Fraxinus

Latin plant name Fraxinus Common plant name Ash (fresno) Plant type Tree Size (meters) <10-45 m Distinguishing features Both names, Latin and English, have the same meaning, spear. The leaves are opposite (rarely in whorls of three), and mostly pinnately compound, simple in a few species. The seeds, popularly known as keys or helicopter seeds, are a type of fruit known as a samara. Ash is a hardwood. Extensively used for making bows, tool handles, baseball bats, hurleys and other uses demanding high strength and resilience. There is a severe pest attacking the ashes all over Europe. Chalara dieback of ash is a serious disease of ash trees caused by a fungus called Chalara fraxinea (C. fraxinea). The disease causes leaf loss and crown dieback in affected trees, and usually leads to tree death.

Coppicing

Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management which takes advantage of the fact that many trees make new growth from the stump or roots if cut down. In a coppiced wood, young tree stems are repeatedly cut down to near ground level. In subsequent growth years, many new shoots will emerge, and, after a number of years the coppiced tree, or stool, is ready to be harvested, and the cycle begins again. (The noun "coppice" means a growth of small trees or a forest coming from shoots or suckers.)

Typically a coppiced woodland is harvested in sections or coups on a rotation. In this way, a crop is available each year somewhere in the woodland. Coppicing has the effect of providing a rich variety of habitats, as the woodland always has a range of different-aged coppice growing in it, which is beneficial for biodiversity. The cycle length depends upon the species cut, the local custom, and the use to which the product is put. Birch can be coppiced for faggots (bundles of brushwood) on a three- or four-year cycle, whereas oak can be coppiced over a fifty-year cycle for poles or firewood.

We can coppice different types of trees:

• Oak (usually used for fences)
• Sweet chestnut (usually used for fences)
• Hazel (used for furniture)
• Ash
• Sycamore
• Willow (used for fuel and weaving)
• Lime (used for decoration)

Sometimes they do the coppicing taking part of the root, where the tree curves and gets into the groudn. There we can find the most flexible part of the tree, as it is where all the water is found.

Beech

		Autumn	Spring
	Copper/Purple beech	Rusty brown leaves	Purple leaves
	Common/Green beech	Rusty brown leaves. They can keep the leaves better during winter	Green leaves

The beech as the oak can make a nice bush. (haya)

The beech as a bush needs shelter from:

• Wind
• Animals (rabbits and goats)

Cuttings

Cuttings is a way of spreading plants.

We will always use the most recent growths of the plant we are cutting.

The hardwood cuttings can be planted directly into the soil.

Semi and soft cuttings will be planted into pots or rooting compost. 

When planting the cuttings, they will need compost to avoid weeds.

HARDWOOD	SEMIHARDWOOD (Shrubs & Evergreens)	SOFTWOOD  (non woody plants)
We will plant them during the dormant season, from November to February	We will plant them from November to December	We will plant them during the active growth season, from June to September
Currant Bushes Whitethorn Dogwood Hazel Holly Ivy Willow (up to April) Roses Hydrangea	Shrubs Herbs Evergreen hedging Magnolia	Pelargonium House plants Fuschia

Growing from the original plant

There are different ways of growing new trees and shrubs from the original plant:

1. Cuttings
2. Layering
3. Suckers

Cuttings

Is a technique for vegetatively (asexually) propagating plants in which a piece of the stem or root of the source plant is placed in a suitable medium such as moist soil, potting mix, coir or rock wool. The cutting produces new roots, stems, or both, and thus becomes a new plant independent of the parent.

This method is done by cutting the last years part of the stem of a plant and planting it in a pot. The cut has to be done right beneath the buds. It should be a diagonal cut and to make the growing surface bigger we can make a scar on the bottom of the stem.

All the upper buds, except the ones at the very top of the stem, should be taken off, as well as any leave that may still be in the stem.

Layering

Is a means of plant propagation in which a portion of an aerial stem grows roots while still attached to the parent plant and then detaches as an independent plant. Layering has evolved as a common means of vegetative propagation of numerous species in natural environments. Layering is also utilized by horticulturists to propagate desirable plants.

The way to do is bending a stem to the ground, making a scar in the part that will be in contact with the soil and pinning it down to the ground.

The roots will come out from any spot of the stem. After a year you can chopped it off and transplant it.

Suckers

A basal shoot, root sprout, adventitious shoot, water sprout or sucker is a shoot or cane which grows from a bud at the base of a tree or shrub or from its roots. A plant that produces suckers is referred to as surculose. Root suckers may emerge some distance from the originating plant. Suckers also may arise from the stumps of trees that have been cut down.

To spread a plant from its suckers we should mount up some soil around the tree covering part of the suckers. This will encourage to grow roots from the little shoots. When they have roots we can cut them separetly and plant them in another part.

The sucker must be cut with the root with a sharp knive.


------

If we are taking little trees from a woodland to our house we have to put the trees well tied up in a black plastic bag, not letting any air inside to avoid getting fungi into the roots.

Identifying nearby plant

We collected branches from trees near our homes to identify them in the classroom

Silver maple

Pine tree

Ash

Tree planting distances

Very little root action leading to subsidence damage to buildings in the UK is caused by direct physical pressure exerted by roots. A tree has to be very close to the structure indeed for such damage to occur. Planting a tree so close to a structure that trunk buttressing or increase in trunk diameter was being restricted could lead to damage. More commonly, pavements and boundary walls with little or no foundation may be lifted by large shallow roots of, for example, Populus, poplar, species. Buildings with adequate foundations, standing some distance from trees, are very rarely subject to such direct damage.

Most reported damage is secondary in nature. The problem is confined largely to soil types that shrink considerably on drying. In the UK these are mainly certain types of clay and some peaty, fen soils. Under conditions of drought when tree roots remove water from shrinkable soils, they accelerate the drying and shrinking process. This can lead to loss of support to inadequate foundations and subsequent subsidence. Continued drought, even in the absence of trees, can lead to subsidence in such circumstances.

Tree root spread data have most relevance to relatively ‘safe’ planting distances when relating to trees growing on shrinkable clay soils. Planting distances on other soil types that do not contract on drying have to be determined more by consideration of the respective scale of the buildings and trees, the ultimate size of the trees, and the desirable or undesirable qualities of the trees concerned.

Weeds

Burdock

Dandelion

Weeds generally share similar adaptations that give them advantages and allow them to proliferate in disturbed environments whose soil or natural vegetative cover has been damaged. Different types of habitat and disturbances will result in colonization by different communities of weed species.

Naturally occurring disturbed environments include dunes and other windswept areas with shifting soils, alluvial flood plains, river banks and deltas, and areas that are often burned. Since human agricultural practices often mimic these natural environments where weedy species have evolved, weeds have adapted to grow and proliferate in human-disturbed areas such as agricultural fields, lawns, roadsides, and construction sites. 

Weed seeds are often collected and transported with crops after the harvesting of grains. Many weed species have moved out of their natural geographic locations and have spread around the world with humans.

Weeds may be unwanted for a number of reasons:

• competing with the desired plants for the resources that a plant typically needs, namely, direct sunlight, soil nutrients, water, and (to a lesser extent) space for growth;
• providing hosts and vectors for plant pathogens, giving them greater opportunity to infect and degrade the quality of the desired plants;
• providing food or shelter for animal pests such as seed-eating birds and Tephritid fruit flies that otherwise could hardly survive seasonal shortages;
• offering irritation to the skin or digestive tracts of people or animals, either physical irritation via thorns, prickles, or burs, or chemical irritation via natural poisons or irritants in the weed (for example, the poisons found in Nerium species);
• causing root damage to engineering works such as drains, road surfaces, and foundations

White clover

A number of weeds, such as the dandelion Taraxacum, are edible, and their leaves and roots may be used for food or herbal medicine. Burdock is common over much of the world, and is sometimes used to make soup and other medicine in East Asia. White clover is considered by some to be a weed in lawns, but in many other situations is a desirable source of fodder, honey and soil nitrogen.

A short list of some plants that often are considered to be weeds follows:

• Bermuda grass - perennial, spreading by runners, rhizomes and seeds.
• Bindweed
• Broadleaf plantain – perennial, spreads by seeds that persist in the soil for many years
• Burdock – biennial
• Common lambsquarters - annual
• Creeping Charlie – perennial, fast-spreading plants with long creeping stems
• Dandelion – perennial, wind-spread, fast-growing, and drought-tolerant
• Goldenrod – perennial
• Japanese Knotweed
• Kudzu – perennial
• Leafy spurge – perennial, with underground stems
• Milk thistle – annual or biennial
• Poison ivy – perennial
• Ragweed – annual
• Sorrel – annual
• St John's wort - perennial
• Sumac – woody perennial
• Tree of heaven - woody perennial
• Wild carrot – biennial
• Wood sorrel – perennial
• Yellow nutsedge - perennial

Compost

Here are some tips on how to create a good organic compost:

Compost ingredients

1. 'Greens' or nitrogen rich ingredients

• Urine (diluted with water 20:1)
• Comfrey leaves
• Nettles
• Grass cuttings

2. Other green materials

• Raw vegetable peelings from your kitchen
• Tea bags and leaves, coffee grounds
• Young green weed growth - avoid weeds with seeds
• Soft green prunings
• Animal manure from herbivores eg cows and horses
• Poultry manure and bedding

3. 'Browns' or carbon rich ingredients - slow to rot

• Cardboard eg. cereal packets and egg boxes
• Waste paper and junk mail, including shredded confidential waste
• Cardboard tubes
• Glossy magazines - although it is better for the environment to pass them on to your local doctors� or dentists' surgery or send them for recycling
• Newspaper - although it is better for the environment to send your newspapers for recycling
• Bedding from vegetarian pets eg rabbits, guinea pigs - hay, straw, shredded paper, wood shavings
• Tough hedge clippings
• Woody prunings
• Old bedding plants
• Bracken
• Sawdust
• Wood shavings
• Fallen leaves can be composted but the best use of them is to make leafmould

4. Other compostable items

• Wood ash, in moderation
• Hair, nail clippings
• Egg shells (crushed)
• Natural fibres eg. 100% wool or cotton

5. Do NOT compost

• Meat
• Fish
• Cooked food
• Coal & coke ash
• Cat litter
• Dog faeces
• Disposable nappies

How do I make my compost?

You can make compost simply by adding compostable items to a compost heap when you feel like it. It will all compost eventually but may take a long time and if the mix is unbalanced, may not produce a very pleasant end product. With a little extra attention you could improve things dramatically. 

An ideal mix

To make good compost you need a more or less equal amount of 'greens' and 'browns' by volume. You can also include small amounts of the 'other ingredients' listed above.

How to manage our compost

1. Gather enough material to fill your compost container at one go. Some of this may have been stored in a cool heap and have started to rot slightly. Make sure you have a mixture of soft and tough materials.
2. Chop up tough items using shears, a sharp spade (lay items out on soil or grass to avoid jarring) or a shredder.
3. Mix ingredients together as much as possible before adding to the container. In particular, mix items, such as grass mowings and any shredded paper, which tend to settle and exclude air, with more open items that tend to dry out. Fill the container as above, watering as you go.
4. Give the heap a good mix within a few days, the heap is likely to get hot to the touch. When it begins to cool down, or a week or two later, turn the heap. Remove everything from the container or lift the container off and mix it all up, trying to get the outside to the inside. Add water if it is dry, or dry material if it is soggy. Replace in the bin.
5. The heap may well heat up again; the new supply of air you have mixed in allows the fast acting aerobic microbes, ie those that need oxygen, to continue with their work. Step 4 can be repeated several more times if you have the energy, but the heating will be less and less. When it no longer heats up again, leave it undisturbed to finish composting.

 

In our school garden we turned the compost to give it some air.

A link to know more about compost

http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/cold-weather-compost

Plants for a school garden - educational space

Field trip to Deelish Garden Center

Plant name Type Reasons for suitability Eucalyptus darlympleana Tree evergreen Low maintenance Peeling bark Aromatic Fast growing Carex (Sedges) - on the back Ophiopogon planiscapus 'nigrescens' (Blackgrass) - on the front Evergeen perennial Grass Appealing sense for its sound under the wind Hydrangea Deciduous shrub It flowers during the autumn when school starts The dried flowers can be used for crafts Daffodils Spring flowering herbaceous perennials It flowers during spring Low maintenance Sense appealing (colours, beauty,...) Lavander Herb Sense appealing (scent, aromatic, colours)

Rhus - Sumac

Latin plant name Rhus Common plant name Sumac Plant type Flowering shrub Size (meters) <1 - 10 m Distinguishing features The leaves are spirally arranged. Rhus chinensis compounds possess strong antiviral, antibacterial, anticancer, hepatoprotective, antidiarrheal and antioxidant activities.

Salix - Willow

Latin plant name Salix Common plant name Willow Plant type Tree Size (meters) <5-15 m Distinguishing features Found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. They came to Ireland right after the melting of the ice age thanks to their light seeds that can be blown by the wind, along with the grasses and the beerchs. Willows all have abundant watery bark sap, which is heavily charged with salicylic acid, soft usually pliant tough wood, slender branches and large fibrous often stoloniferous roots. The roots are remarkable for their toughness, size, and tenacity to life, and roots readily grow from aerial parts of the plant. The leaves are typically elongated, but may also be round to oval, frequently with a serrated margin. Most species are deciduous; semievergreen willows. Willows are dioecious, with male and female flowers appearing as catkins on different plants; the catkins are produced early in the spring, often before the leaves, or as the new leaves open. Basic crafts, such as baskets, fish traps, wattle fences and wattle and daub, house walls, were often woven from osiers. Willow wood is also used in the manufacture of boxes, brooms, cricket bats (grown from certain strains of white willow), cradle boards, chairs and other furniture, dolls, flutes, poles, sweat lodges, toys, turnery, tool handles, veneer, wands and whistles.

Alnus - Alder

Latin plant name Alnus Common plant name Alder (alisos) Plant type Tree Size (meters) <20-40 m Distinguishing features With a few exceptions, alders are deciduous, and the leaves are alternate, simple, and serrated. The flowers are catkins with elongate male catkins on the same plant as shorter female catkins, These trees differ from the birches (Betula, the other genus in the family) in that the female catkins are woody and do not disintegrate at maturity, opening to release the seeds in a similar manner to many conifer cones. Alder leaves and sometimes catkins are used as food by numerous butterflies and moths. Alder bark contains the anti-inflammatory salicin, which is metabolized into salicylic acid in the body. As a hardwood, alder is used in making furniture and cabinets and other woodworking products.

Acer - Maple

Latin plant name Acer Common plant name Maple Plant type Tree Size (meters) <10-45 m Distinguishing features The word Acer derives from a Latin word meaning "sharp" (compare "acerbic"), referring to the characteristic points on maple leaves. Most species are deciduous, but a few in southern Asia and the Mediterranean region are evergreen. Most are shade-tolerant Maples are distinguished by opposite leaf arrangement. The leaves in most species are palmate veined and lobed. A maple leaf is on the coat of arms of Canada, and is on the Canadian flag. The maple is a common symbol of strength and endurance and has been chosen as the national tree of many countries including Canada. Maples are planted as ornamental trees Some of the larger maple species have valuable timber. Maple is considered a tonewood, or a wood that carries sound waves well, and is used in numerous musical instruments

Ginkgo biloba

Latin plant name Ginkgo biloba Common plant name Ginkgo Plant type Tree Size (meters) <20- 30 m Distinguishing features The ginkgo is a living fossil, as a unique species recognisably similar to fossils dating back 270 million years. Native to China, the tree is widely cultivated and introduced early in human history, and has various uses as a food and in traditional medicine. The tree has an angular crown and long, somewhat erratic branches, and is usually deep rooted and resistant to wind and snow damage. During autumn, the leaves turn a bright yellow, then fall, sometimes within a short space of time (one to 15 days). A combination of resistance to disease, insect-resistant wood and the ability to form aerial roots and sprouts makes ginkgos long-lived, with some specimens claimed to be more than 2,500 years old. Ginkgo is a relatively shade-intolerant species that (at least in cultivation) grows best in environments that are well-watered and well-drained. The leaves are unique among seed plants, being fan-shaped with veins radiating out into the leaf blade. Ginkgos are dioecious, with separate sexes, some trees being female and others being male. Male plants produce small pollen cones with sporophylls, each bearing two microsporangia spirally arranged around a central axis. Female plants do not produce cones. Two ovules are formed at the end of a stalk, and after pollination, one or both develop into seeds.

Araucaria - Monkey puzzle

Latin plant name Araucaria Common plant name Monkey puzzle Plant type Conifer evergreen tree Size (meters) < 40 m Distinguishing features Because of the species' great age it is sometimes described as a living fossil. Araucaria araucana is the national tree of Chile. The leaves are thick, tough and scale-like, triangular, 3–4 cm long, 1–3 cm broad at the base, and with sharp edges and tip. They persist for 10–15 years or more, so cover most of the tree except for the older branches. It is usually dioecious, with the male and female cones on separate trees, though occasional individuals bear cones of both sexes. The male (pollen) cones are oblong and cucumber-shaped, 4 cm long at first, expanding to 8–12 cm long by 5–6 cm broad at pollen release. The tree is wind pollinated. The female (seed) cones, which mature in autumn about 18 months after pollination, are globose.