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