Since we completed our last watering run at the end of September, we have visited all the several hundred trees we have planted in order to inspect them and carry out any necessary maintenance work. As usual there was disappointing evidence of damage by mowers – broken posts, bent cages and some injury to the trees themselves. There was also evidence of vandalism; this was mainly minor – small branches broken, cages bent or rubbish dropped inside cages – but at one site off Allectus Way the trunk of a tree planted in the 2020/21 planting season had been snapped. This had clearly been done many months ago as the tree had sprouted new growth from the undamaged base of the trunk. We tidied up the broken trunk to stop disease entering the exposed wound and left the new growth. Hopefully the tree will eventually revive but we will be monitoring it each year.
More worryingly three trees planted in the 2018/19 planting season had died during the summer, despite having had five growing seasons in which to become established. They had all been planted in difficult ground, two in Epping Way and one in The Avenue, but had appeared to be surviving, even during the extreme drought in the summer of 2022. These losses are disappointing, although the overall percentage of such failures remains around one or two per cent.
It is now time to plant more trees. Some of our plans for this season are on hold at present as we wait for confirmation that the Forestry Commission will be able to make funds available, as promised, to Essex County Council (ECC) for the planting of some 60 trees on two sites in Witham. We hope for an early decision on these schemes so that we can proceed with planting in January.
Meanwhile, we are fortunate to be able to rely on the support of Witham Town Council which has continued each year to earmark funds for the purchase of trees to enhance the landscape of the town. Last Thursday (23 November) we made a start on planting the first tranche of the Council’s trees. We have for some time been eyeing the patch of grass on your left as you travel from the Morrison’s roundabout towards the town centre. It has seemed to us that the site merits some more striking feature than a mere grassy slope and, with agreement from ECC Highways Department, the landowner, we have now planted two limes and two Turkish hazels on the site. Although there was some demolition rubble in the ground, we are hopeful that the trees will flourish and in due course create a welcoming sight for people coming into Witham.
After this site we went on to replace the two dead trees in Epping Way. We chose robust species – a hawthorn and a field maple – and placed them in what seemed more favourable ground but still close to their original sites. We are reasonably confident that they will not suffer the fate of their predecessors but we will of course be monitoring their growth.
Next Thursday we shall be planting the second tranche of trees and all the Town Council’s trees should be in the ground by Christmas.
Richard Hawkes
November 2023
