Badger's Wood...

When I was back home we managed to do a couple of decent days gardening. We shifted many healed-in hedges, planted a new camellia lawn, and we started work on Badger's wood. We had already decided on the creation of the wood last year when we planted the royal oak in honour of the Diamond Jubilee. However, we had yet to design the track that was to run through it, or to plant any of the other trees, which will eventually form a very dense copse of woodland.

We had carefully measured out and planted the border of the wood with Holly, Silver Birch, and Hornbeam (which had just been healed-in there until the old barn is pulled down and the second half of the vineyard planted). So we knew where the boundaries were, we just had to make a path which was long and winding, and looped around the jubilee oak.

I mowed out the path with the push-mower, while Peter walked behind with the weedkiller, spraying the  grass.

When it is all planted up with English trees in September it will look great. It will take about 3-5 years before it starts to look like an established wood and before no other part of the path can be seen except the part immediately ahead of you. The map at the beginning of the post accurately plots the course of the path, and the position of the oak tree. It is quite a long path given all its turns, and will feel even longer when you can't see where it is leading you...

Although we don't have Badgers in NZ, we do have hedgehogs. Maybe this little one which has already found its way to Badger's Wood will start a family...