A lot of landscaping

November is our month for landscaping our grounds.
Whenever I have considered landscaping a garden before, it has always been a combination of paving, hedging and large shrubs.  However with a plot this large, developing structure and colour in the garden means large scale tree planting.
We pulled together a plan to plant fast-growing trees to screen the road and telegraph poles, create an avenue along the entrance, and shape the gardens of each holiday cottage....

We have tried to use native species, or trees that we have seen growing widely in the local area to ensure that the planting is in keeping with the environment, and have included oaks, horse chestnut, and beech to provide focal points when mature.

As this part of France is truly beautiful in Summer, with the orchards in full leaf and the fields swaying with sunflowers and corn, we decided to plant the majority of our trees for Autumn colour.  We hope that the reds and yellows of the maples, gingko, sweetgum and tulip trees will provide a dramatic backdrop to the properties.

Using smaller trees near the buildings to define the edges of gardens and provide shade, we are also planting fruit trees - mulberry and figs - in each garden, so that guests can pick their own fruit to eat straight from the trees.

We ordered 75 small whips from the garden centre....

and 10 larger 3 year old fruit trees for an orchard...

So with 85 young trees to plant and at least 5 existing trees to transplant, we needed a system.

First we needed to cut 85 pieces of weed suppressing fabric - so a template was in order...

Then we needed to be able to take all our tools and materials with us round the plot, so the trailer was hitched to the quad and filled with tools, trees, compost and a water butt, and the JCB was loaded with a big bag of limestone gravel.

Fully prepared, we were ready to start the process...

1. Scrape the turf away...

2.  Dig the hole...

3. Sift through the big bag of compost to take out all the cockchafer grubs...

Apparently the cockchafer (May Bug) lays 60 - 80 eggs in the ground, and they develop into these grubs which live underground for 3 to 4 years eating roots. We seem to have all 80 in our bag of compost and not wishing to plant them to feed on our tree roots, we had to sift and squish them before planting.

4.  Fill the hole with sifted compost and plant young tree...

5.  Cover with weed supressant, fix wire netting to stop  animals from eating the young trees...

6.  Cover with limestone chipping, water and repeat.... a further 84 times!

Not forgetting to transplant and stake any nice young saplings growing too close to other trees to develop properly...

We were slightly disheartened to find, after planting all 75 young trees, that they were barely visible over such a large area.  So it was gratifying to finish the planting in the orchard with the larger fruit trees.  With a selection of cherry, pear, peach, nectarine, fig, walnut and sweet chestnut, we are hoping to be able to grow most of the fruit we will eat, and provide home grown fruit and nuts to our guests.

Now that the last tree has been planted and staked, we can stand back and admire what is a small but very healthy looking young orchard, and keep our fingers crossed that the rains will begin soon, and we will not have to water all 85 trees by hand.