How to plant a tree

PUBLISHED ON: 22 MARCH 2022

Plant a tree in your garden to help wildlife thrive in the New Forest National Park.

Trees and hedgerows provide food and shelter for a variety of wildlife, from songbirds and hedgehogs, to bees, bats and butterflies. They also create wildlife corridors which allow species to travel safely between isolated patches of wild habitats.

By planting a tree in your garden, you can help to create these corridors and provide a pit-stop for wildlife as they journey through towns, villages, gardens, and intensively farmed areas to reach their next nesting site. Follow our tree planting guide and discover top tips, on how, where and what to plant below.

Why plant trees?

By planting trees, we can all work together to create corridors that allow wildlife to move freely across the landscape – creating bigger, better and more joined-up habitats for them.

Whilst some creatures can fly home, others such as hedgehogs need food, water and shelter as they journey across the landscape. Hedgerows can act as a highway for hedgehogs to move through the landscape, and all creatures great and small will appreciate the food found on berry bushes and fruit trees scattered about.

Where to plant

Your garden can play an important part in connecting up habitats for wildlife. It can either be an oasis for passing wildlife, allowing them to cross towns and roads, or an obstacle preventing them from reaching a new nesting site. By planting trees and hedgerows you can help to provide them with food, water and shelter as they roam across the New Forest landscape and beyond.

Why aren’t more trees planted in the open forest?

As well as woodland, the New Forest is also home to many other precious habitats which play an important role in tackling the climate and nature crises – such as bogs, wetlands and heathlands. These areas need to be carefully managed and protected alongside the existing woodland habitat. This is why we do not advise extensive planting in the open forest.

The Tree Planting Guide

When to plant: Tree planting season generally runs from October to March. Regular rainfall during these months helps to keep soil moist allowing the roots to grow and take hold in time for spring growth.
Where to source trees for planting: You can buy trees from garden centres and nurseries. If you can, buy local whenever possible as this helps reduce the impact of travel and risk of pests and diseases from elsewhere.
Choosing which tree to plant: The nursery should be able to help you identify which trees will grow best in the soil you have. If you can, try to stick to native species as these will support the most wildlife which have co-evolved with them here. For instance an oak tree can support over 400 different insect species. Berry trees such as hawthorn or rowan can also support a wide range of insects, animals and birds. Orchard fruit trees can be a wonderful addition to your garden but they do need a little extra care to be healthy and productive, especially in their early years. You can research ‘orchard pruning’ to find out how to encourage a successful fruit tree. If you are planting a hedgerow, then the general rule of thumb is that the more species planted in a hedge, the greater the variety of wildlife it can support.
Where to plant your tree: A tree’s location needs to be considered with the future in mind – a tree planted over a car parking space might seem ideal for shade in summer, but it can result in leaves, debris and birds droppings becoming a problem! Do take care to consider the final height and spread of the tree, a 15 metre tree placed two metres from your kitchen window may look nice while it’s young but will eventually block out all the light and could damage your house’s foundations and water pipes. To pick the perfect spot for your tree, try to find a place in your garden with plenty of light and space to grow.
How to plant a tree: The Royal Horticultural Society has a fantastic step-by-step guide to help you plant your tree.