It was a lovely sunny morning for the Friends of Hampshire Farm Meadows work party. We splashed our way through the puddles and mud up to the arboretum. 

The pine trees which have been there since the beginning have a lot of grass and perennial weeds inside their cages. Our task was to remove the cage, trim the weeds back and if the tree needed it put the cage back. Guy Schofield, EVMA trustee and resident tree expert, also turned up to check on the trees and do a little pruning where necessary.

We will probably continue with this task on our next work party (28th Feb.) as we could see quite a few more trees that were being swamped by grass inside their cage.

Below are a few pictures. One shows a pine that has grown well and no longer needs its cage, one a weedy tree, and also a pine sporting a pine cone.

Many thanks to the Friends for their hard work helping to maintain the Arboretum meadow.