Bare root season is open

Now's the time folks. The season is here.

I've ordered 25 beech trees for my new front hedge, and 25 crab apples for out the back. They should arrive any day now, and then no doubt I'll be digging in the dark after work to get them straight in the ground.

For the benefit of those that have no idea what I'm on about, bare root season is when young trees cost a pittance. Instead of paying £20+ for a single tree in a container, you pay £20 or less for 25 trees in their dormant state, with no soil around the roots, and looking pretty dead but actually just asleep. Bare root season starts now (but is dependent on weather), and ends around early February.

 

I'll be getting some more Cherry Plums shortly for only 62p each (after my discount card deduction), but it seems as if they could be a real bargain because if you click on the Check Availability button in that link above it appears they're also going to provide me with lots of baby cherry plum plants if I get them in time.

 

Cool

Hopefully my native tree collection should arrive soon :D

 

My hawthorn hedge is now one year old, 50 plants £15.00 and free P&P
I need to give a severe haircut late March to encourage to be bushy from the base I hate to do it but I now for the future best thing to do.

Spruce

 

I received 40 bare root perennials last week. They are for a school where I do volunteer gardening and are not immediately needed, so I spent two mornings potting them up, I gave them a drink and put them in the greenhouse (as per instructions) and then went away for the weekend.

When I returned, they had all started sprouting - due, no doubt, to the very mild weather we have been having.

I expect the growth will be checked once temperatures plummet (whenever that happens) but I do hope they will survive okay after all my efforts.

 

Depends who you got them from plus you may have to wait for others to be deliveed in rotation plus I have a feeling this warm weather hasnt helped patience I know you have the planting area ready so chill out:WINK1:

Spruce

 

When I enquired about ordering my trees they said it would be best to order now as they had a back log building due to the warm weather. At the time I thought it was a sales tactic but maybe not I'm still waiting.

 

Its not a sales tactic. A good supplier wont dig the plants up while they are still active. The unusually mild weather is delaying things a bit. My initial excitement was premature. We have to wait for the weather to cool down a bit.

It wont be long though. All the trees round here are shedding their leaves like crazy, and have been for a couple of weeks now.

 

Ordered mine in August From ABERDEEN delivery Nov, still not here
Though I would rather have a viable rose late Than a chancer early

Jack McH

 

Yep, I was right the first time. Bare root season is upon us. Received my trees today

Finished work, collected missus and lad from granny's, and got home to find a card from the courier. Handwritten on it was a note saying 'I've hid it behind bin'. So I looked, and very neatly concealed was a large box, full of young trees.

As anticipated, I've been digging in the dark. In the time it took for wife to make my tea, I'd planted up the whole front hedge.

I tried to do out the back too but it was just too dark to see what I was doing. The crab apple trees for the back garden will have to stay in the bag until the weekend. Hopefully they wont dry out. They're in the dark, in a cool place, and wrapped in plastic to help prevent them drying out.

 

I got my apple into the ground today - unfortunately it spent a few nights at the courier :eek: as I didn't realise it had "arrived" ... Fingers Crossed it's OK!

 

It should be ok. It is said that speed is of the essence when it comes to getting them in, but a few days shouldn't hurt.

When you consider that the supermarkets sometimes sell young trees as almost bare roots, with half their roots missing and half a handful of loose compost around what's left of their roots, and those trees have often been in a warm shop for days, and yet they usually make it.

I think its just that the quicker you get them in, the quicker they settle in.