A Tree is for Life not Just the Firepit
Can you name 13 uses for trees? Send any suggestions you have in to us to be added later on. For now here are our 13 Uses for Trees.
- Treehouse
The proverbial tree house. A past time we all love and cherish and remember from our youth. Climbing into a tree and making a space that was our own.
Today there are ‘official’ builders of tree houses. Cautiously considering the health of a tree, building and furnishing treehouses as outdoor spaces which the adults love to inhabit too.
Even Airbnb has the odd treehouse location offered.
- Gym
Ever seen children climbing a tree? Those young ones know how to gain maximum benefit from our tall strong friends. Sure there are a few exercises that can be done beside the tree without climbing into it or hanging off it, but it is a wonderful asset to have in your own garden.
- Lightshow
If you have been to the Kevingrove Botanical Gardens light show you will know what you can aspire too. Lights up and down trees to light your path and wave in the wind. They make an excellent place to have a table under light in the evenings.
- Leaf Mulch
Many don’t appreciate the leaves that fall on the ground each autumn, but they act as a major boost for our soil and hold a little known secret. They form a barrier layer around roots and plants to protect them in the winter freeze and best of all, when spring returns, nature has already begun to break them down to feed those roots she protected.
- Conker Wars
Remember finding the conkers around and under a tree to take home so you could prepare to be the winner of the conker wars. Schools may have stopped this in the light of health and safety but that doesn’t mean it is lost forever. Collecting nuts from trees has been a long-held tradition and a tasty one at that. Get those horse-chestnuts ready for the fire.
- Topiary
If you are a little creative, trees can be grown into all sorts of shapes and your back garden is no exception. A little tree can turn into a large feature when manicured and trained and be something unique in your garden over time. How far will your imagination lead you in your designs?
- Grow more Trees
Collecting the seeds and small saplings from around a tree in your garden can help to grow more elsewhere. Plant a seed with your children and watch it grow and offer to take them to friends and family so they live on long after we have left the home.
- Fresher Air
Okay, this is a by-product of having a tree in your garden, but the more you have the more oxygen they will provide for us, turning our air cleaner again. Every limb hold tens of branches which holds hundreds of leaves all producing air for us to live happy and healthy lives.
- Bird Boxes
Bird and bat boxes can be placed on trees in your garden to encourage the wildlife to nest. What an adventure to have visitors to a garden to hatch and bring up their young right in front of us, while we go about our day to day business. It is an exciting option for those looking to improve their neighbourhoods.
- Mental Health
Do you know green trees do something to our brains? They calm us, soothe our minds and create a space for a richer life. Not only for you but even for the neighbours around you. Going green isn’t just a snappy term to sell more electric cars, it really is the natural colour of our world and we love it.
- Carbon Absorbing Machines
Trees are super at absorbing carbon into their trunks and roots to reduce our carbon footprint. Nature already has an excellent servant waiting to assist her back to health and trees are our friends too.
- Wind Breaks
Ever thought about how a tree disrupts the wind as it blows around a neighbourhood? Those huge limbs and thousands of leaves all waving and dissipating the force of high winds to protect our homes and gardens. They also slow down rainfall hitting the earth so it can soak the ground rather than flood it. Trees are a mighty force in our environment indeed.
- Your Tree is a Compass
All trees have Guy roots which anchor them to the earth, but on one side there will be a larger root that sticks out and points in the direction of the prevailing wind, typically the South West in the UK. Knowing a Guy root is generally pointing to South West we can use that to know where we are heading when it is past 11pm and the gin has run out again.
Let us know other uses for trees. I am sure we missed plenty of them.