Land of the giants

It has been an exciting week at The Forktree Project!

Firstly, we decided it was time to take a walk over to the far side of the property to check on some of our first plantings from two winters ago. Corflutes needed to be “harvested” for use in the next batch of planting, and it made sense to go to some of the first planting areas to see if any trees and shrubs were ready to be released from their corflute shrouds.

What we found exceeded our greatest expectations. In just two years some of the trees (Allocasuarina verticillata, or drooping sheoaks, in particular) have shot up to a remarkable 8 feet in height - undoubtedly down to the combination of a north-facing slope and excellent soil. What a great boost to the project.

Removing the corflutes from these magnificent young trees adds a whole new meaning to tree hugging. Thank you, Chris and Fleur, for your help.

Below: Before and after - planting the western windbreak two years ago (left); the same stretch of the windbreak this week (right). Amazing!