The Phantom Planter

 On Sunday we had 2 young kids up helping out planting trees at our Lisnabreeny orchard. I was telling them of the spiral we made in the next field and that if you make a wish at the yew tree in the centre then walk all the way out your wish might come true. Next thing the both of them went and made a wish at the yew and walked all the way out of the spiral. The youngest kid has a special interest in fairies and I told her that Lisnabreeny means in Irish "fort of the fairy dwelling". She was well impressed. She had all sorts of fairy stories to tell me herself. Both these kids were a great help with the planting. Honestly, this is the second time now they have came out with me planting and they are so into it. I think the little girl must be around 7 and the brother about 10. They're parents as well have been a great help too. They all came along with litter pickers at hand and got stuck in. There is now close to 400 heritage Irish apple trees planted at this site and I t...

 Thanks to everyone who came and helped yesterday at our orchard.  We got 31 apple trees planted and over a 100 willow cuttings. Plus the place got a good tidy up.  Very productive day.  I challenge you to phantom plant a tree  Peace and love  The Phantom Planter and Wee Betty

 Heading out here today to plant 30 more apple trees in our Lisnabreeny community orchard. Also going to take as many willow cuttings as possible from existing willow trees around our orchard and stick them into the wet areas of the field to try and dry it up over the years ahead.  Willow thrives in wet areas and is perfect for sucking water out of fields. The bottom of our orchard is always saturated so some willow will be perfect for here. We are also lucky to have so many other willow trees around for cutting material Willow cuttings are so easy to do, just cut any sized branch off a willow tree and poke into the ground and this will grow into another willow tree with about 99% success rate.  First time I seen this happen I was amazed! Its amazing how trees in general suck water from the ground keeping it firm.  I notice it all the time when out walking after heavy rainfall. If your walking in a field its like a swamp, then you walk near some decent sized trees th...

 Me and wee betty planted another 10 apple trees at the Lisnabreeny Community Orchard yesterday. What a beautiful day we got for it. Love sunny winter days planting trees. After I planted these the lovely owners who have donated the land for this amazing orchard made me lunch. Love my food offerings. I may not be rich anymore rat race style. But I'm rich in life, love and friends. Again I cant thank these people enough for what they have did. We were talking yesterday about getting the land put in a trust so that the orchard and the spiritual spiral oak museum will be safe forever, long after we are all gone. That brings the total amount of heritage apple trees I've planted in the past month or so to 304. I've got every tree logged where I've planted them. About 200 of these have been phantom planted and the other 100 or so have been planted in managed orchards or peoples land and gardens. I've over another 100 trees to get planted and after I plant these it will be...

 Was away yesterday on the hunt for the Mrs Perry self rooting apple variety. There are a handful of Irish apple trees that are self rooting, meaning you just stick these longer pieces as you can see in the back of my van straight into the ground and they will turn into trees. You dont even need to dig a hole, just get a 2/3 year old branch and force it straight into the ground about a foot deep and they will become trees. This has been tried and tested by myself over the years. What has prompted me to do this is when grown from a branch like this the tree will automatically grow into a full vigorous tree which will be perfect for wild phantom planting and forgot about. When grown on rootstock and the trees have to compete with grass and other things growing around it, it slows down the growth of the trees. Most rootstock grown trees do need to be managed to help them along to reach their full potential. Perfect for maintained orchards. Also rootstock grown trees will only grow a c...

 Planted 25 of my heritage apple trees on a long time wheeling and dealing best mates land yesterday. The stuff we have got up too and sold from we were kids is unreal. When I was about 20 we had this mobile pound shop called great deals on wheels and we went round the doors flogging all sorts of fancy goods. From toilet rolls to door mats and dodgy washing powder that blocked up every ones washing machines. We should have known better though as we bought this from dodgy dude called Pastor sell by date. Everything this guy sold was out of date or dodgy. We then had a pound shop together which ended up turning into a party den. We have sold glowsticks and burgers at raves to beer and deck chairs at band parades. Only problem at times was my mate was quick to knock out the customers. One customer was drunk falling all over the top of our burgers once and my mate hits him an uppercut. Another guy drunk buying glowsticks, he got knocked out too. I used to say to him that this isn't goo...