ABC Wednesday 5: T is for...

.... Tree o'clock

Thanks to Juliet, I'm the proud owner of a eensy weensy hazel sapling (Corylus avellana) ready for Tree o'clock, Saturday's world record attempt for the most trees planted in an hour. Juliet's article linked to places giving away free trees and my local Homebase is one of them. You can choose from 6 of our native species: birch, cherry, field maple, hawthorn, hazel and rowan. All are good trees, varying in size, are attractive to wildlife and there's bound to be one of them which would look good in your garden.

I've chosen hazel because of its relatively small size, attractive late winter catkins and autumn nuts. Perhaps if I have one a little closer to hand, the squirrels might not get their paws on all of nature's bounty! In a few years time I'll also be able to coppice the tree so that I'll have my own supply of supports and poles for my garden and allotment.

If you'd also like to take part, then here's the list of places offering free trees. If my local store's anything to go by, then there should be something left for you, even at this late stage. You need to plant your tree between 11am and 12pm on Saturday 5th December, take a picture of your self doing so (make sure the time and date is set up correctly on your camera) and email your picture to the organisers by Friday 11th December in order for it to count towards the world record attempt. Of course you don't have to take part in the attempt itself, just planting a tree no matter how small, is a hugely beneficial thing to do for your neighbourhood :)

There's currently nearly 270,000 trees pledged for the attempt, which will also count towards UNEPS Billion Tree Campaign.

For more Treats Today, do visit the ABC Wednesday blog.

Comments

  1. Sherrie2 December 2009 at 15:22

    Hi!
    Awesome "T" post. I'm off to check it out. Have a great day!

    Sherrie
    Sherrie's Stuff

    ReplyDelete
  2. Katney2 December 2009 at 19:03

    Ah, well, seems to be a British Isles thing. If I get a chance and can find a tree to buy--and if the ground is not to frozen to dig--I will see about it anyway! Though if the time has to be GMT it's not going to happen here.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Elizabeth Musgrave2 December 2009 at 20:09

    I'll have a go - lots of room for free trees here!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Maggi2 December 2009 at 22:01

    I'm so cross. I got all excited and was going to plant gezillions of trees. then I realised I will be at work at the requisite hour. ****** ****** ****** . the treeswill be planted anyway at some point, but sadly not on that day.

    This work lark is not good. Consequently having a significant birthday nest Tuesday, a few weeks ago I made a life changing decision and so, on Dec 23rd, I give up the day job. Despite hassle today trying to make me feel guilty about retiring in December (just not on, to drop folk in it at Christmas). I can't help when my birthday is! Gave 5 weeks notice, 2 weeks in nothing has been thought about except,'what am i going to do, we start the sale and my children are on holiday'. Not my problem.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Tumblewords:3 December 2009 at 04:55

    Admirable! The ground is quite frozen here, so there'll be no planting, but we do quite a bit during the warmer months!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Rose3 December 2009 at 14:35

    Good luck on the record-setting! Like Katney, though, it's a little late in the season here to be planting trees. We do have something similar--Arbor Day, which falls at the end of April. I signed up last year and got 10 free trees (very, very small) to plant.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Kim, USA3 December 2009 at 19:49

    Wow that is awesome. Checking it out if we have saplings for free in my area. Thanks!

    My ABC is here

    ReplyDelete
  8. Roger Owen Green4 December 2009 at 17:58

    tremendous idea!

    ReplyDelete
  9. jay4 December 2009 at 20:13

    Great idea! I have a self-seeded hazel in the garden, it's quite large now, and only about three years old. I guess a squirrel brought the nut in, so I mustn't be too greedy if, eventually, they want to share the harvest, must I? LOL!

    On behalf of the team, thanks for taking part in ABC Wednesday this week! :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Juliet7 December 2009 at 20:37

    Thanks for passing the message on, VP! Did you get your tree planted at the right time? I managed to do mine - just need to get the photo of it off to the Tree O'Clock people now.

    ReplyDelete
  11. VP5 January 2010 at 21:14

    Hi everyone - thanks for all your comments. Planting trees is a good thing to do, Tree O'clock or not!

    ReplyDelete

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