We need more trees! We need more indigenous trees, we need more fruit trees, we need more agroforestry corridors (growing systems that integrate trees with other crops and plants). We need more woodlands. DEFRA (the UK govt Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) have recognised the need to have more of our woody brethren, and put out a call for, “MORE TREES, WE NEED TO PLANT MORE TREES,” before quickly realising there wasn’t anything like enough tree and seed stock in the UK to meet demand, so they backtracked and said, “MORE TREE NURSERIES, WE NEED MORE TREE NURSERIES.” We agree! Which is why we’re putting in a community tree nursery at Lyme Regis Common Ground. But to grow trees, you need seeds!
Seed collecting and saving is a wonderful way to connect with nature. By harvesting and growing tree seeds, you receive the gift of that tree’s offspring. If you are lucky, you may grow a whole new tree from that single seed. From that single tree, you may receive the absurd abundance of an annual crop of fruit, or delicious nuts, or the very wood itself. In exchange for this gift, you do your best to ensure the survival of that tree’s lineage. We humans are AWESOME at this sort of work – opposable thumbs! So we at The Common Ground Project put out a call to get as many opposable thumbs as possible together at Lyme Regis Common Ground to collect and propagate seeds from the amazing variety of trees onsite. Holly, Birch, Oak, Beech and Sweet Chestnut were just some of the species that we collected for propagation. In fact, the old growth deciduous woodland on the north-west portion of the site, and the human-planted Noah’s Ark copse in the middle (planted two-by-two!) were part of what made the land so perfect for what we want to do. If we are to create Eden on earth, we need to find the few places that Eden still exists and propagate out from there. We found Lyme Regis Common Ground to be the perfect mother site.
Seed collecting and propagating is a great activity for the whole family. The children get to run around collecting seeds while Nan sits back at camp with a cup of tea and puts the collected seeds into what are called “vernalisation trays” – trays filled with a mix of sand and compost that the seeds will sit in over winter to have a think about how they might like to express themselves come spring. That’s all there is to it! Put the trays somewhere where they are exposed to the wind and the wet but protected from mice and birds – some people use fine wire mesh – and wait to see what comes up!
We had a great time on the land, collected hundreds and hundreds of seeds, split them into trays for people to take home, and called it a day!
Comments