Clearing a forest garden

adocholiday

Hi all,

I posted this in the gardening forum and they kindly suggested that I post here. We've just bought a house that comes with 2 acres of forestry as its garden. It's principally pine trees but there are also horse chestnut, sycamore and ash trees on the property. Could be others I haven't even really gotten around to mapping or classifying what's there yet.

I have no desire to cut down any trees but the ground beneath them is heavily overgrown and covered with fallen branches, briars, weeds etc. and is basically impassable right now. I want to spend time clearing the forest floor and making it nice but want to keep it as natural as possible. Someone has suggested that thinning might be a good idea and I'd be all for that if it will be beneficial. One thing to note however is that the original planning permission granted for the property has a condition that states "no trees within a 40m radius of the dwelling shall be felled, lopped, topped or otherwise cut back without prior written permission from the local Authority" so it might not be so easy (legally anyway) to do this.

This is purely for our own use too, I'm not trying to make money off it or to use if for any purpose other than for our enjoyment. I'd like to put a few small paths in it and along the perimeter, and maybe a couple of benches or a little garden arbour with a bench. I just want to clear the floor basically and that'd allow me to do the things I want.

I have zero experience and I mean zero when it comes to gardening and landscaping so I was wondering if the kind people here could give me some pointers on things like tools, guides, websites, books and whatever other experience or advice you might have. Would really appreciate it, I'm really looking forward to doing the project but want to make sure I'm suitably equipped and educated to do it safely and properly.

Thanks in advance!

tabby aspreme

How long ago were the trees planted, and how close are they planted to each other, if it was a commercial forest there would be very little undergrowth after 7/8 years, do you have any pictures.
There are two ways of clearing undergrowth, either mechanically with a strimmer and slash hook, or by spraying something like brushwood killer which would leave just grass growing

adocholiday

tabby aspreme wrote: »

How long ago were the trees planted, and how close are they planted to each other, if it was a commercial forest there would be very little undergrowth after 7/8 years, do you have any pictures.
There are two ways of clearing undergrowth, either mechanically with a strimmer and slash hook, or by spraying something like brushwood killer which would leave just grass growing

The trees all appear to be old and looking at aerial photos from the year 1995 the site was forested before the house was built. They are really tall and in some places quite close together. I don't think it was ever a commercial forest, and it certainly hasn't been for at least 20 years. I could get pictures for sure but probably not until the weekend because it's dark when I get home from work.

Hope that's useful.

49801

Third way is a pig.

adocholiday

Hi everyone, apologies for the radio silence, I didn't really have anything to post until now, but I finally made the best of the good weather yesterday to get some pics.

I have uploaded two albums, 1 showing the garden https://imgur.com/a/xkL8CJg and 1 showing the forest https://imgur.com/a/kDzhOBD.

The garden is actually pretty clear of trees. It's a multi-level garden and the highest level is visible from the house. There is a hill, then a flat overgrown area, with another hill, and another overgrown flat area. There are some trees in the garden and looks to be a mix of different ones. The trees in the garden are all to the right of the first pic.

In the forest then you can see that it's basically all pine, with lots of overgrowth and fallen trees etc.

Any questions I'll do my best. Hopefully this helps you all visualize it better.