I am looking forward to planting thousands.
I first had the idea in early summer 2016. I have been having discussions with my neighbour Dick Nicholls as to the hopeful outcomes of the massive Milnthorpe regeneration project. Dick, with helpers, over a forty year period has planted hundreds of thousands of Australian pioneering trees in order to establish a canopy. The outcome is hoped to see a podocarp forest emerge from under this canopy, some planted, most self sown by the big influx of birds who occupy this new canopy. They bring the seeds in from the wider bush environs.
In the neighbouring bush hills surrounding Mt Rinopai, my house and workshop, the native pioneer canopy of Manuka and Kanuka is well established with many green leafed natives like Kamahi, Muhoe and others. Already there is a sprinkling of podocarp seedlings emerging. Rimu are in many places succeeding the pioneer canopy. Miro, Totara, Kahikatea, are also evident.
My idea is to just augment the natural process. Take some time to do a good planting job and basically just fill in the gaps in the natural reseeding that is nature's regeneration project.
I have my own parcel of land that is covered in regenerating Kanuka and Manuka. So I could plant here on my property. And I will for my own garden. However the lifespan of these podocarp native trees are hundreds of years. It is so hard to know how land ownership will proceed into the future and so I thought it made more sense to plant into the national park where the protections are in place. But still who knows how that changes as the decades go by.
There will be many threats to the life of these young trees, some natural , some human influenced. I just want to do it.
So every online jewellery order sees a podocarp planted into the Kahurangi National park. Over thirty trees planted already so keep the orders coming. I will keep planting.
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I have a good selection of trees. Hundreds. Healthy in root trainers and planters, ready to be liberated into the Kahurangi National Park Forest wilds.
My tree planting programme is well underway. Starting in late 2016, I am matching online orders with a native podacarp planting. My first planting marked an order by regular patron, Fiona Turner. I have planted quite a few already, enough that I need to think to remember all the locations. This is not row planting, although this has crossed my mind.
For this project I follow advice. The expert seed raiser at Morgans road nursery, where I source my trees, said, “ walk in the bush until you feel the cool air of the canopy, then plant the Kahikatea. Eco anarchist, treeplanter extraordinaire Dick Nichols, said, “ look for good soil”.
So I follow the expert advice. Walk into the Kahurangi wilds on my doorstep and aim to achieve both pearls of wisdom.
It is easy, be it is a little random.
My process is simple. I find the right place, canopy and good soil. I dig and loosen the soil. I rake all the surrounding bush litter. Mix it into the soil I am breaking up. Plant the tree. Rake more bush litter to mulch the tree. Gather a ring of rocks to mark the spot. Whisper a Karakia, walk away!
I do mean to geolocate the trees. Make a map online to mark the trees. Right now I am just planting. So much will come into play through the hopefully long life of these plantings, that its marked location is only a part of the record. I will try to set this up though.
So my project has begun and I love it. For every online order, I plant a podocarp Kahikatea or Rimu. There are so many good reasons for this project, and I will over the following weeks discuss more of this in this blog series.
Orders by Tarek and Matt this weekend mean two more Kahikatea populate the Kahurangi, Golden Bay style:) Thanks guys!
So …. Get me planting. Every online order gets a tree planted.
www.Redmanuka.co.nz
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