We were in touch late last year about getting involved with looking after street trees in Herne Hill and we thought it was time we gave you an update on what's been happening.
Paul Millington, the chair of the Friends of Sunray Gardens, and Jeff Segal have been developing a volunteer community group covering the area bounded by Herne Hill in the north, Half Moon Lane in the south, Carver Road in the west and Sunray Avenue in the east. Some of you have already been watering young trees over the spring and summer months and helping us with drawing up proposals for new trees.
Herne Hill Tree Watch
We've decided to call the group Herne Hill Tree Watch and have split the streets up into West and East. West takes in Herne Hill, Half Moon Lane, Carver Road, Ruskin Walk, Hollingbourne Road, Warmington Road, Howletts Road, Holmdene Avenue, Elfindale Road, Frankfurt Road and Danecroft Road. Jeff is the point of contact for this area, while Paul and his volunteers are taking care of the remaining streets out towards North Dulwich.
New trees for 2020/21
Three months ago we submitted applications to the council for 26 new trees to be planted in Herne Hill in about a year's time. Fourteen of them were in the western half area and 12 in the east.
Next Wednesday evening, January 22nd, at 7pm we'll be presenting our bids to the local councillors at a meeting at Charter School. We'd really appreciate some support so if any of you would like to come please let us know and we'll pass you the details.
New trees this winter
The council will also be putting in some new trees over the new few weeks, before the planting season is over at the end of March. They've already marked out pits for saplings outside 3-5 Carver Road and on the pavement between 96 Holmdene and the junction with Half Moon Lane.
These will need watering come the spring, so keep any eye out for them. We can also send you details of all the other young trees that were planted in the last year or so, many of which still need a helping hand. We can help with guidance on watering.
Linking up with Southwark Council
Paul and Jeff have friendly relations with the tree officers at Southwark Council and we're meeting the Arboricultural Services Manager, Julian Fowgies, on January 22nd to decide how we're going to work together.
We lose too many young trees every year through neglect and Herne Hill Tree Watch is ideally placed to help out with maintenance, watering, choosing locations for planting, suggesting the types of trees we'd like to see, reporting poor tree health, flagging up vandalism and identifying pests and diseases.
Julian would like to send council officers out to meet us and we'd be keen on shadowing them on their rounds so that we can learn from them and point out problem areas.
Maintenance issues
We won't be able to take on minor maintenance jobs like pruning until we've had some training, but in the meantime we're putting together a record of all the trees in our neighbourhood that need work done, which we'll pass on to the council. Let us know if you'd like a copy and please don't hesitate to tell me if you spot anything of concern.
For instance, lots of the smaller trees are still inside wire mesh cages which they've long since outgrown and which ought to be removed, along with any stakes, rubber ties and watering bags that aren't needed any more.
Quite a few of them have a mass of suckers coming up from the roots, some of which are very thick and should be pruned back. Others have what are called epicormic shoots, which are like suckers but come out of the trunk.
A few of our street trees are also leaning noticeably and need propping up or replacing; others have broken limbs; one or two need to have low branches removed where they interfere with pedestrians; and occasionally you'll see a fungus growth that shows there's decay. There are couple of dead trees too, which again have to be replaced.
Thanks again for your interest in our street trees. Do tell us if you have any ideas for activities or suggestions for better ways of keeping in touch. And please forward this on to any neighbours who might like to join up and help our trees flourish.
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