St. Andrew's Tree Planting Ceremony

Today, at 11:15 a.m. we gathered round the hole which we had previously dug out of the clay. The bottom of the hole was filled with the turf which was removed when the hole was being dug. Bonemeal and some compost were then laid onto the turf before placing the tree into the hole.

The children from the 'Fifth Form' were invited to plant the tree together and they took it in turns to fill in the hole and to water it in.

Three short plastic pipes were drilled with holes and inserted around the roots of the tree. The rest of the hole was then filled with a mixture of compost and the original soil from the hole. Children used a metal weight on the end of a pole to tamp down the compost around the roots to anchor the tree firmly in its hole.





More bonemeal was sprinkled around the tree before a final layer of loose compost was placed on the top as a mulch to keep it weed free. Water was poured into the three pipes several times over to water right down to the base of the roots.

Finally we found a rabbit-guard from the woods and placed it around the trunk of the tree.

The tree is a 'Golden Beech' or Fagus sylvatica 'Zlatia'. The photographs show it in its autumn colours of yellow and brown.

Thanks to Mrs Snow for taking the photographs.