A long-held aspiration for this garden is to develop a tree nursery. It’s unlikely to ever be a major operation – the purpose is to provide trees for the wildland project, and perhaps a little further afield. In time it will incorporate a wider range of species, and potentially branch (hoho) out into fruit trees, which would mean getting to grips with grafting and other forms of propagation.
The inspiration to begin was also boosted by a visit to an aspen propagation day at Trees for Life’s Dundreggan estate in 2024 – seeing that work at scale, and the seriousness with which it was approached, made the idea feel both more possible and more urgent.
This autumn, it tentatively began in earnest. A mast year on the wildland produced an extraordinary abundance of acorns from the ancient oaks, and we collected hundreds. The main challenge was immediately practical: how and where to store them. Long root modules packed into plastic crates seemed the right answer – but voles are a constant presence around the walled garden, and no container left on the ground stays safe for long.
The solution, eventually, was to suspend the crates from the metal bars inside the polytunnel, leaving them hanging entirely out of reach. Which looks a bit odd.
Come spring, we’ll know whether it worked. But in any case, it’s great to get this aspect of the garden project underway, even in a small way, and I hope it leads to much more.
The Bamff Walled Garden. 