All is good in the Buddhahood

 Bought myself a battery lawnmower, so if you see a man with a mask on out cutting grass around the streets don't worry its only The Phantom Planter out looking after his trees!

I bought it mainly for the kind of phantom planted orchards you can see behind Wee Betty in one of the pics.

88 heritage Irish apple trees we phantom planted here a couple of months ago. These are phantom planted on council green space in the Belvoir estate South Belfast. 

I've phantom planted them all in a massive square shape and I'm going to keep a border cut out around the entire square so that when the council grass cutters come out they will not have to come close to the trees at all and hopefully just continue to cut around the square.

This is a protype wild heritage orchard that I'm experimenting with. I'm thinking these types of orchards could be planted up in housing estates all over the city. Some estates in Belfast have massive unused green spaces like we have in our estate that could be planted up with these types of heritage orchards.

So far I cant believe how all these trees have been respected by the locals and the dogs. At first when I planted them up I didn't put any tree guards or bamboos on them and a few trees got damaged by running dogs I think. But from we added the guards and sticks not one has been broken.

Some people saying are they not planted too close. Yes they are, but for me its a numbers game. I feel the trees will get better established if mass planted in numbers and will be less risk of people and dogs running through them. If I had of planted these trees at the normal distance that apple trees get planted, with them being so small I dont think the survival rate would be good. 

So far though this method is showing that it works.

In the next couple of years when the trees are fully established and could take a hit from a running dog I will be thinning them out and replanting the removed ones elsewhere. You can dig established trees out very easily in the first few years after planting. I've given this a lot of thought and like everything else in this tree world I learn by doing.

What I have noticed in the nature world is so many people have so many opinions about what is right and wrong. Many are going by hearsay. When someone says thats the wrong way of doing something and this will be the outcome. I often say have you did it the wrong way to find out. Many haven't. I have did so many wrong ways that have all turned out to be good. And I've did wrong ways that have been wrong, but atleast I know now for certain. Like the Buddhas teachings he challenges you to question, experience and analyze them for yourself. Dont follow his teachings blindly he says. 

The first tree I ever phantom planted I was told was planted the wrong way by a so called tree expert, it will die he said. This tree is now 11 years old and I can climb it. This tree experts spoke Latin with strangulated vowels, he really sounded like the real deal too! 

So many in the nature world like to think they know more than others. 2 top ecologists I had meetings with before. Both of them in the same job positions. One is adamant ivy is good for trees and  the other is adamant it all must be cut back and its a menace.

Get your trees guys and stick it in the ground the right way up and learn for yourself as you go. Thats all I have been doing right from the start.

I challenge you to phantom plant a tree 

Peace and love

The Phantom Planter and Wee Betty