......are poking their noses through the soil! Yesterday, I went to pick up
one of Ray's presents from the Agroforestry Research unit at Dartington and
I was talking to Martin Crawford who runs it. We discussed an article in
one of yesterday's papers which quoted someone in charge of London parks
(IIRC) who said that the worry is that with these mild autumns and winters,
trees aren't getting a rest before bursting into bud again. This was about
the many trees in London which, apparently, still have leaves on in mid
December.
Martin plants many different kinds of fruit trees as well as nut trees. His
comment was that he sees a drop in their fruiting (or nutting ;- ) when
the above conditions occur. Presumably they need a period of dormancy to
give of their best the next season and in these milder weather temps,
they're not getting it.
BTW, for those interested they have tours of this unit at Dartington and
below is a link to info on those and courses:
http://www.agroforestry.co.uk/courses.html
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)