The Phantom Planter

 Love these 2 apple trees in flower right in the middle of an industrialised area of East Belfast.  I phantom planted these a few years ago and cant believe how well they are doing. I remember when I was planting these there was so many people tooting their horns with one girl stopping to ask could she get her pic taken with me.  Another person shouted out the car window "Up the Phantom Planters"!... UTPP!!!  So many phantom planted trees everywhere I go these days, they just keep on growing and getting better looking as the years go on. So soul enriching watching your environmental graffiti thrive like this.  Its also amazing what I'm actually learning just by sticking trees in the ground the right way up and observing them over the years.  I've gotten to know so much just by doing. I never was one for learning from books or videos. I have always learned by jumping in at the deep end and work it out from there with enthusiasm and optimism.  I have so ...

 This is Jimmy the apple tree. My first ever phantom planted tree right outside my family home where I was born and raised.  I can't believe how well Jimmy is doing. I never thought he was going to make it.  Around 11 years ago I planted Jimmy in waterlogged ground. I had never planted a tree in my life before. I just dug a hole and made sure it was the right way up.  We planted 2 that day. My dads mate planted the other.  I remember when we planted them and I named mine, I said to my dads mate are you naming yours?  He looked at me like I had 2 heads.  His didn't make it sadly and Jimmy struggled on for years.  After my dad passed away and I moved out of the estate I never went back down to see Jimmy much. Difficult seeing other people living in your family home. Went down once a few years ago and couldn't believe Jimmy was growing away. 7 years I'm gone from the street now and have only been down a few times since then.  Yesterday I went do...

https://youtu.be/TU11lYq8Y9Y?si=q6BFwQrx3UUHsAZD  

 Its an amazing time of year watching all your phantom planted trees come into flower. Spent most of the day yesterday walking my Big Pal round and tending to many of my trees. We must have seen well over 2000 phantom planted fruit trees, ranging from ones just planted a few months ago to ones that are near 10 years old.  Wee Betty's legs were wrecked by the end and I had to carry her for the last bit.  Cant believe the amount of ladybirds that are at our main orchard - The Phantom Planters HQ! Many years ago I collected loads of ladybirds from other areas and spread them all around the trees at the orchard. Maybe this is them breeding and making The Phantom Planters HQ their permanent home as I dont think I've seen so many ladybirds in the one place from I was a child.  Going to start making more videos and putting them up on Youtube. As most of you know I've been giving it a lot of thought about how I go forward with social media. I still want to create good conten...

 What a day yesterday for working away at the Lisnabreeny orchard, the sun shined all day! Last year we put chicken wire around all the trees to protect from rabbits, but it turns out there are no rabbits in the area and now the cages we made are becoming a bit of a hindrance with weeds growing up all inside them making it harder for us to keep the bases of the trees clear off weeds and cutting around them too.  So yesterday we made at start removing this wire and giving the trees a check over, making sure any memorial tags are not too tight and cutting off any dead wood. Just basically showing the trees some love and attention. They do feel it. Conscious care grows conscious trees.  We have a few hundred of these to do and the weather is looking great for the next while so perfect time to get out and work with the trees.  My Big Glagwegian pal is over staying with me for a few days and the tree in the pics is one we planted last year in memory of his father. He is s...

 Got the drone up yesterday for some pics after I cut the grass at the spiral. Cant believe how perfect the spiral turned out. Amazing what you can do with a load of pallets and a long rope. To get a gist of the size, thats a car in the top of a the pic.  Walk in checking out all the special ancestral oaks on the way and then make a wish at the Irish yew in the centre.  Walk out again chanting "om mani padme hum".  Thats a wee ritual I do at our spiritual oak spiral.  In the future you'll be able to help yourself with an apple in the next field as thats where we have over 600 heritage Irish apple trees.  There is something very therapeutic about cutting the grass at the spiral. I love doing it. Cant wait for all the trees grow up around the path over the years creating a dense woodland with a spiral walkway through it.  This is going to be such a special place that will hopefully live on for a thousand years to come and still promoting phantom planting...