As I write this, I’m flying back from the UK after attending the Arboricultural Association’s annual conference; Soil and Trees. It was a fantastic conference, well worth the effort and it was truly an honour to be able to speak at it. Soil compaction was a reoccurring theme, and so it should have been. ...
I love the fact that trees don’t read books and that the laws of nature don’t always seem to apply to nature. I love this, and to serve as a constant reminder I have my very own illiterate disobedient tree in my backyard. It is a cutting from an old apple tree. The parent tree ...
Who would have thought the word ‘duff’ could have so many different meanings? I’ve just searched it on the internet and the international variations are quite… extreme. In my mind, ‘up the duff’ was going to be a slightly suggestive heading connecting urban soil to pregnancy; slightly suggestive, in subtle as a brick kind of ...
Many years ago, I met a horse whisperer. I was flying first-class and it was the first time I had been up-front during a long-haul flight. It was an upgrade of an upgrade and I was thoroughly enjoying the experience – as one does when is served pre-take off cocktails while deciding upon wines for ...
I found myself needing to very accurately age some trees. The margin of error required for the work was plus or minus months, not give or take a few years. After trying every conceivable option, including photos, sales records, comparative plantings and saying no, I found an increment borer, made some holes and pulled some ...
When I was a young arborist I did terrible things. Terrible, arboricultural things – I’ll keep this professional and not a self-indulgent personal narrative (I’ll save that until I am old and want to embarrass my children). When I was a young arborist I did terrible things, but at the time they were considered best ...
I have been commissioned by my local City Council to create some Urban Monoliths. I’m not sure the title is correct; a monolith is a large single upright block of stone serving as a pillar or monument. My monoliths will be wooden, they will be discretely hidden away and they will not be monuments in ...
I came home the other day and two nice men were working on my neighbour’s hedge. I don’t know for sure that were nice men, I did not talk to them – that would have been weird. I assumed that they were nice because they had set up the work site with cones and barrier ...
The line between social media and social networking can be a fine one. Once you press enter, and your comments appear in a group chat the roller-coaster begins and where or when it stops nobody knows. On one occasion, I innocently entered a slow-burning chat that simmered away for nearly two years, just when you ...
A while back I gave a presentation on risk; ‘Risky Business – the business of risk.’ I was able to present it a few times and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was intentionally emotive ‘Disaster is lurking and we will save you’. I filled it with selected statistics for effect; Over 100 people are killed by ...
