The Phantom Planter

 Went and planted trees for 2 schools in Killyleagh yesterday, St Mary's primary school and killyleagh integrated primary school. This is not something I usually do to be honest but I couldn't say no to the lady that asked me. For years this lady was our costal rowing chair person, back when I used to do a bit of rowing myself. I am indebted to the Killyleagh Costal rowing club. When I first got invited to row with them about 10 years ago I still had a big drink and drug problem, I was also still up to my neck in underworld activities. This was the first ever kind of social sport or social activities that I had ever did. Growing up with my dodgy delboy dad all we knew was how to duck and dive. If it didnt make money we didnt do it. I was never into music, sport or anything that didnt make money. That life though you have no real friends, as my dad always said, "you've no friends in business son".. How right he is. This rowing group was a different type of people f...

 Me and wee betty worked away yesterday at our oak spiral adding some wind protection around the acorns we just recently sowed. Some of the acorns I sowed inside the plastic tube to help with humidity, this will also act like a propagator. The rest of the acorns I sowed around the tube. Will be interesting to see which ones grow best. I've went a bit over the top with this but so many of these acorns are from the oldest oak trees on these islands. Some may never produce acorns again like the Major oak of Sherwood forest and the Old Knobbley oak. The Belvoir oak which is the oldest oak in Ireland is nearly dead also and I was so lucky to get just a few acorns from this beauty last year. So you can maybe understand why I've went to this level of TLC for these precious acorns. At least I know I've tried my best. Conscious people plant conscious trees is a comment that one of the top tree ladies of Ireland made to me a while back. Lets hope she's right! It was Saint Patrick...

Here we go guys, 32 ancient oak trees all planted up in our spiral so far. Just a handful more to go to bring it up to the magic number of 37! Here is the list so far.... 1. Bowthorpe oak 2. Robin Hood aka Major oak 3. Parliament oak 4. Big Belly oak 5. Knighthood oak 6. Brimmon oak 7. Capon oak 8. Blenheim palace oak 4012 9. Remedy oak 10. King oak Blenheim palace 11. Clachan oak 12. Ketts oak 13. Brian Boru 14. Belvoir oak 15 .Chained oak 16. Magog oak 17. Allerton oak 18. QE1 oak 19. Old Knobbley oak 20. Fingeringhoe oak 21. Marton oak 22. Phantom climbing tree oak 23. Wyndham oak 24. Panshanger oak 25. Crouch oak 26. Domesday oak 27. Ufton oak 28. Darley oak 29. Druid oak 30. Majesty oak 31. Old Man of Calke oak 32. Birnam oak For many years now myself and The Paramili-Trees SAS ( Special Acorn Service) branch have been collecting acorns of all these ancient masters above. I have been germinating and growing the acorns myself and now so happy to get them all planted up in our oak s...

 Was working flat out at our oak spiral all day yesterday getting the acorns planted up and building guards around them all.  We now have 33 different types of famous oaks here at our spiral, unreal! The gales coming across the hills yesterday while planting was epic. It really made my day being out in it just me and nature. Was pretty Shamanic.  All of the most recent batches of acorns sent to me autumn past by The Paramili-Tree SAS Branch ( Special Acorn Service) have all germinated.  Cant believe how many different iconic oaks we have from all corners of the UK and Ireland. We must have the largest collection of ancient oak genetics on these islands all planted up in a spiritual spiral formation at our Lisnabreeny Community Orchard. I will update my list today with all the names of the famous oaks we have and keep yous posted.  Cant wait to get this all done and dusted and take myself on holiday. Honestly guys I've taken on too much this planting season. A le...

 This is the list of the the famous oaks we have planted so far in our spiral. Still have a many more big names to get planted here in the next few days. All these oaks have been grown from acorns collected from the famous parent trees below. 1. Bowthorpe oak 2. Robin Hood aka Major oak 3. Parliament oak 4. Big Belly oak 5. Knighthood oak 6. Brimmon oak 7. Capon oak 8. Blenheim palace oak 4012 9. Remedy oak 10. King oak Blenheim palace 11. Clachan oak 12. Ketts oak 13. Brian Boru 14. Belvoir oak 15 .Chained oak 16. Magog oak 17. Allerton oak 18. QE1 oak 19. Old Knobbley oak 20. Fingeringhoe oak 21. Marton oak This is going to be amazing when all finished. A spiral museum of oak trees preserving the linage and genetics of these islands oldest and most iconic oaks.  Feel free to support our mission guys. We dont get funding for this great work. Its all done out of love for trees and nature. Although at times I have to ask myself what am I at when most my life is consumed by The ...

 Today I'm going to sow all the iconic acorns I have directly into the ground at our spiral. All these acorns were collected by the Paramili-Tree SAS-(Special Acorn Service) members from all over the UK and Ireland and posted to me last autumn. All the acorns I got I put them into these pots in the pic. I buried them all nice an deep so no wildlife digs them up for a treat over winter. It will be exciting to empty these out today to see which ones have germinated. For me this is the simplest way to germinate acorns. Just collect straight from the tree and bury a handful nice and deep with soil. Come this time of year empty the pot out and plant or repot the ones that have germinated. Some big named oak trees in these pots, after today we're hopeful we'll have around 30 different famous oak trees planted up at our spiral. For anyone thats new to this page you'll see in the pic the spiral we cut out in the field. I'm planting this spiral up with acorns collected from ...