The Phantom Planter

 Everything is slowly coming to life now. Love this type of willow I just planted a month or so ago. Me and wee Betty planted another 20 oak trees yesterday. I have about another 20 or so specialist oaks to be planted in the spiral and 22 heritage apple trees left to plant then that'll be my planting done for a bit. Well over a thousand trees I've planted in the past few months. The most I've ever planted in one season. We now have over 600 heritage Irish apple trees at our Lisnabreeny community orchard, now time just to sit back and watch them all come to life. Be part of some good vibes today guys and go and plant some trees, I challenge you... We need donations guys to help with the up keep of all our orchards. Would appreciate anything at all.  https://paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=FAJZHB3TBXMSL Peace and love  The Phantom Planter and Wee Betty

 Was on a bit of a mission yesterday out round the country getting apple tree scions/cuttings from some heritage Irish orchards. Love the Lichens all over the apple trees behind me in the pic. I found a broken branch with loads of Lichens on it and I'm bringing it up to one of our orchards to see if it will spread. I think I heard before though that Lichens only grow in clean environments which is maybe the reason you dont see it too much on city apple trees. After we got our cuttings we went to Jampa Ling Buddhist Monastery to add some tree guards to trees I planted there a few weeks ago as I heard the place is full of Hares. Then as we were sitting getting our lunch this massive Hare just walked through the garden in the direction of the 7 apple trees I planted there. Was an amazing sight! Think I got there just in time!  Grafting season is coming up soon guys, right after the Spring Equinox (20th March) when nature pushes the life button and the sap starts to rise is the be...

 Got wee Betty's mate Nessie out for the day yesterday and we planted about 30 apple trees at our Lisnabreeny orchard. Also love how well the Irish yew is doing at the centre of our spiral in the next field. I have never seen a yew flower give out pollen like this before, amazing! Love being out in a field just me and the dogs planting trees, this is something I will be doing for the rest of my life. You couldn't have any better friends than dogs and trees. My day always feels better when I plant trees! Check out in the pics some apple tree phantom planting my mate did at a new housing development just outside Belfast. These new developments are always left a bit bare and could do with loads of fruit trees! Well done mate, your moving up the ranks fast. Busy day for me today, I'm writing this at 5am as I need to be away here for 7am to collect apple tree scions/cuttings. We are heading to some old orchards at Peatlands Park Dungannon and Florence Court Enniskillen. I'm ...

 "Tell me and I will forget Show me and I may remember Involve me and I will understand." This is why I came up with The Phantom Planter challenging you to get out planting trees. Once you get involved in tree planting yourself you'll be connecting to and understanding nature on a whole new level. I always say it doesn't matter how many trees get planted, if the heart of the community are not involved nature will never be respected. Its only when I started to phantom plant trees that my view on nature changed. And to be honest it was only because my first trees were wild phantom planted by the side of the road in Belfast that made me connect and understand on a different level. Because it was my little act of environmental graffiti it really had me wanting to drive by my trees every day to see how they were doing, just to make sure they were still there in the hood. If I had of planted these trees in a garden or in a place that was safe it would not have had the same ...

 Great news for The Phantom Planters HQ! Had the meeting yesterday with the NIEA (Northern Ireland Environment Agency) about lots of our trees being planted on ASSI ( areas of special scientific interest) and lets just say things couldn't have worked out any better for The Phantom Planters HQ aka Belvoir Memorial Orchard. This community orchard will be here to stay for future generations! The guys that came out to inspect I couldn't have got on with any better, proper nature lovers they were. I knew I would have a lot in common with them anyhow. We were all singing off the same hymn sheet. I did take on board lots of their concerns and had to compromise on a few things, totally understood where they were coming from.  But overall it was an amazing meeting and I was glad we meet. I learned so much from both of them. Really had no idea how many different invasive species are running wild out there.  Just always be careful what your phantom planting guys, try and keep it nat...

 Me and wee betty planted about 40 oak trees yesterday down at the bottom of our Lisnabreeny orchard. Past while I have changed the way I have been planting bare root trees. Takes a wee bit longer than usual but every one I've been planting I just know they are going to thrive well. I love my solo tree planting meditations, so good for me and so good for nature. Its also good being part of the antidote to all this destructiveness that is the way of our world. Some nice things have came my way in life recently so its important for me to practice more good deeds and generosity, keeping myself humble and grounded. Some Buddhists say if your life is good then your reaping the rewards of past merit earned. So its important to keep generating more good merit for the future. My delboy dad always said you make your own luck in life, I think he was a secret Buddha himself. He was always helping everyone and always giving people gifts. He was always laughing too and on his last days before h...