Best trees from throwing seeds

Hi

I've got a disused piece of land behind my garden. It would look nice if there were some trees on it. I can't physically go and plant them, but am sure if trees grew there no one would mind.

Can anyone suggest any trees that would grow well from just throwing seeds down?

The soil type is clay and any seeds would need to grow through about 2 feet of small brambles.

Thanks very much

 

The covering of brambles could be a problem both for the germinating seed and by keeping seed from reaching the ground. I have nearby ash and field maple both of which liberally seed around and I end up pulling up many seedlings every year.

 

If no one will mind then the person who owns the land will be happy to let you plant trees there, surely?

 

Most ground in the UK, if left undisturbed turns into woodland, its the native ground cover.

I think birch is often one of the first to invade naturally.

 

Thanks for the responses folks. Any ideas which seeds would 'most likely' succeed provided they reach the ground of course!

 

There's always wildling Apple trees along railway tracks from discarded apple cores.

 

You need squirrels, they bury acorns and forget them,
I'd try all sorts, conkers, chestnuts, acorns etc, easy to throw, ash and maple are likely to do it on their own along with birch.

 

The trouble with Ash is that if you bring it in next to your garden you will be regretting it in a few years when your own garden also turns to woodland. I don't think there's any such thing as a FEW Ash trees.

 

When I bought our house the garden was just bare clay soil put there by the builders but by the time we could move in and I could mow it (about a year and a half later) weeds had grown to waist height. As I was cutting them down I noticed some stems with broad leaves, so I thought, ah ha! Trees! So I let them grow: now they're the best trees in the garden. I suppose they were bought by birds although the seeds could have been in the soil. If they grew so well despite the competition from tall grass and weeds, including lots of thistles, perhaps they'd do the same for you.

They were: Pussy Willow, Silver Birch and Elder.

In addition, while messing about trying to grow screening plants in various ways from seeds and cuttings, I put an acorn in a nursery bed which was mainly sand, just for the hell of it, and it's grown into a nice oak despite being cheek-by-jowl with box and forsythia. My seven Crack Willows are another type that have grown really fast from cuttings, with no losses. And if you can get a Staghorn fern established, it will propagate itself - it grows tall with lovely leaves in the autumn.

But if nothing's growing past the brambles now, why should your seeds? Brambles out-compete just about anything. I think you need to give yours a bit of help to get started.

Can you set fire to the brambles? Otherwise, at least put your seeds in nice soil in a thick paper bag tied up with string and throw that. Or put the soil and seeds in a well-tied up bin-liner, alongside another bin-liner filled with water to weigh it down inside a cardboard box and see if that will reach the ground.