Maydencroft Weekly Summary 18/11 - 21/11

This Week (18/11 - 21/11) was set on two separate sites. One day on Terlings Estate - Which has a Veteran Cedar Tree (This one - HERE ) and is covered by all the protections/ maintenance that comes with it. This site was in Harlow and the other outside Potter's Bar by the M25. At Terlings I got practice in using a Pedestrian Mower, Leafblowing and changing Dog Litter bins. On the Potter's Bar site I learned about the sapling tree planting process, how to heel trees into the ground etc. We had a production line on the site:

1. One man with a pointed spade going up the field left to right, opening holes
2. One or two placing trees into holes and heeling them
3. One or two placing in wooden post
4. One knocking posts (who must always be wearing a hard hat)
5. One or two placing on and attaching guards.

I tended to jump between roles just so nobody catches up too close or falls too far behind of another step. Mulching the trees was also another step but it was done separately as getting the trees planted was the priority.

The purpose of the tree planting was a Carbon Offset scheme for the M25 by Herts Council. They were insistent on the job being done right as the grant they used to secure the funds was the requirement that 70% of the trees survive as most previous attempts on the site had failed.

Journal Entry 18-11-25:

Today I spent the whole day on Terlings estate, where I took part in 3 main activities: 1. Mowing verges too insignificant for a ride-on mower. A colleague, Steve, showed me a method where you go around the area that you're going to cut in a ring both clockwise and anticlockwise and then do stripes in the middle across. He also said down bother doing lines if the bit that you're going to cut is under 4 feet. Overall I'm very happy with my lines and will upload them to my assessment evidence promptly. 2. Leafblowing and scooping. While I have done this on a solid 80% of my days at Maydencroft, I learnt a new part of the equation today - how to attach the nozzle to the jerry can and what each colour represents. Usually the trucks only carry one speed topper nozzled can thing and today it had pure petrol in it rather than two-stroke oil/ petrol mix because of the lawnmower we had. The orange can has Petrol/ two stroke mix (Though I don't know how to mix it), the red has petrol and I THINK the green has diesel???? They're labeled anyway but it's good experience regardless. May I just add as well I think my blower technique has improved since last time 3.Dog Litter bin changing. Jamie showed me the technique for it, where the rubber gloves are and the specific bags for dog waste. The procedure goes as follows: A. Open the Lid B. Pull the full bag out from around the gap between the bin shell and inner casing C. Tie the full bag and put it aside in a secure position D. Place the new bag in the inner casing and make sure the bin bag is lined tightly so it's stretched about halfway down the outside. E. Place in the newly lined inner casing back into the the red bin shell.

Mowing that makes me feel like a somebody

Journal Entry 19-11-25:

Today in the the torrential rain and snow I was in a field on the side of the M25 planting Conifer, Fir and Pine saplings as part of a North Herts scheme to offset carbon. Most of the morning was spent gathering the stakes, tubes, tools etc and arriving, as well as setting up and moving all the apparatus to site. We also interacted with the client too from the council and discussed how they couldn't have rows of 5 trees and keep the mowing lanes open at the same time so we kept the rows as 4s as were the previous, mostly failed trees from before. The tasks I did while planting were: placing trees in holes and heeling then down, placing stakes, placing guards and finally mulching. I didn't knock down any stakes in place or dig any holes.

NOT pictured on 19/11

Journal Entry 20-11-25:

Today was very similar to yesterday but with three extra guys. We did get into more of a rhythm of planting as well with a shoveler and planter up front, someone with stakes behind, paired with a post knocker and two at the back tying on guards. We still had to be careful about leaving enough space for mowing lanes and I had to go back to the other end of the field to plant trees that we missed. We got hundreds more done than yesterday but still have hundreds more to do. I imagine this job will run into next week. There was also the matter of continually dragging equipment forward so it wasn't left in the middle of the field. Yep. Not really much to talk about today.