Planting a tree
Just so you know, this isn’t a metaphorical article about wanting to be remembered or an edgy piece about leaving a legacy, this is literally about my planting a tree… although I may branch off into something like that later. (See what I did there!) And, of course, ‘planting a tree’ is on the Kettle List.
If you are new here then firstly: “Hello!”. Secondly, let me give you a quick rundown on what a Kettle List is. It’s like a Bucket List but is more organised in terms of time scale. For example, I want to get the things done by 2027 rather than the rather less specific ‘before I kick the bucket’.
There are loads of links and articles about the subject of lists and my penchant for planning over on the home page – so go check it out if you haven’t already.
Where were we…ah yes.
Trees.
Everything you want to know about trees and planting them can be found by taking the title of this blog post, copying it, and entering it into the search engine of your choice. You will be met with an array of suggestions and ideas about trees, where you can find them and how you can help them.
Or you could just read this post, I mean, you are already here, so why not.
My history with trees
Trees are amazing.
Not just because of the whole ‘providing us with oxygen’ thing, or the ‘supporting entire ecosystems by providing food and shelter’ thing. They are amazing because they offer this sturdy permanence in an ever-changing world.
There are groups of trees that share the same root system known as clonal colonies. The best example of this is the quaking Aspen colony in Utah known as Pando. Not only is it the heaviest organism on earth, but it is also believed to be tens of thousands of years old.
There are trees that have literally seen empires rise and fall and stood fast while everything else around them changed.
Solid. Rooted. I love trees.
Sadly, they aren’t big fans of me!
Bonsai!
I will freely confess that this was one of those cheaty tasks. While I do love trees, it was definitely added because I thought it would be an easy win (Which is bad; don’t add items to your list just so you can tick them off!)
However, this cheat bit me in the ass. I bought a Bonsai – a tree I could keep indoors…
It died…well…I killed it. Apparently, it didn’t need as much water as you would think.
Looks like this whole ‘plant a tree’ task could be harder than I thought.
Getting others to plant for me
If a job is worth doing it is worth getting someone else to do it for you …or something like that. As it happens, there are plenty of companies, groups and charities who are more than happy to do the hard work of actual planting for you. It would be almost rude not to take them up on their offer!
The quickest, cheapest and easiest way to get forests of trees planted is to change your search engine.
If you go to Ecosia and set their search engine as your default they will plant trees as you look for things online. On average you have to make about 45 searches for one tree, but that is easy enough to do, and it costs you nothing.
If you want to go that one step further, why not shop through a site that plants trees with every click you make?
Treeclicks is a Chrome extension that plants trees while you shop. It has over 50,000 shops on its books, so there is bound to be a store that you use regularly. Why not benefit the planet, at no cost to you, while you buy?
If you work or volunteer with schools or community groups in the UK there is another way to access free trees.
In conjunction with the Woodland Trust you can request a free pack .
They are available in November and March, although it is possible to purchase at other times of the year. There are number of tree packs to choose from, depending on the size and soil of the areas you are looking to plant in.
The Woodland Trust is hoping the project will make major steps towards the UK’s goal of planting millions of trees to offset carbon emissions to reach the net-zero target in 2050.
Walking to victor-tree
Back at the beginning of the year, I signed up for a walking challenge with The Conqueror Virtual challenge group. It involved me ‘walking’ to the summit of Mount Fuji, 46 miles. As I couldn’t visit Japan this was the next best thing, and my medal is beautiful.
The reason I mention this in a post about trees is that the company donates toward the planting of a tree for every 20% of the challenge you complete.
That means that by the end of the challenge, you will have ‘planted’ 5 trees.
Conqueror estimates that it has planted more than 450,000 trees since August 2020. So you could get fit, get a cool medal AND plant some trees, all in one go.
Not only that but if you apply for a medal via my link you can get a 10% discount!
I have just signed up for the Marathon to Athens medal, so keep an eye out for that one.
Keeping it real
There are plenty of ways you can get trees planted without actually doing any digging yourself. But my challenge was ‘to plant a tree’ and so that was what I did.
I currently have 2 trees and they are not dead yet!
In my incredibly messy and not in any way completed garden I now have 2 large pots. One containing a Japanese Acer, and the other an ornamental Cherry tree. You may see a bit of a theme here…
I was amazed that I was able to pick up a blossoming cherry tree that stands about 10 feet tall for only £37. It was even delivered for free, which is just as well as it would not have fit in my Mini!
Now that my Mum is retired, she has adopted my garden, and I am hoping to have a zen-like spot in the far corner to drink my tea in. There will be a Cherry tree, an Acer, and hopefully some bamboo.
So I can therefore declare this task complete – but I will revisit it once my garden is done and share some pictures with you all.
Don’t forget that you can build your own forest too, just by clicking on the free links above.
Over to you
Do you have a garden?
What have your most successful plants been?
Is being outdoors something you enjoy?
Let us know in the comments.
Thank you for inviting me to read your wonderfully and beautifully written post! I love trees but my allergies are horrendous I rarely go outside (especially here in Texas). I absolutely do not have a green thumb either, unfortunately. That being said I do love all sorts of different beautiful trees, especially anything that has a flower. I never really learned about the different kind of trees there are, only because its hard to study up or learn about something that you can rarely be around. Aside from trees though I will have to say I love Cactus, succulents are the only things I have never killed and I do happen to love cactus anyways. Oddly enough the only other things I never killed but actually grew a Ton of, is Green onion.
Thanks for visiting Lisamarie.
I usually suffer from terrible hayfever, so I do focus more on my indoor houseplants. However, I do love trees, particularly cherry blossom – which is why I got one for the garden. I don’t want to jinx it, but so far it is going well.
I’d love to have a garden big enough for trees. I also love cherry trees, hope yours grows well 🙂
Corinne x
Thank you Corinne. She is in a pot at the moment, so I may have to contain her slightly. I’ve been wasting my big garden, so it is time I gave it some TLC (I say I, my mum has adopted it and has grand plans!)