Help planning perimeter of trees

Hi all, I'm hoping this is in the right section, feel free to move if not

Hoping some on here could help advise how to best achieve some shelter. With the exception of a couple of trees, the area around the house is completely bare and cold looking…would love a little wooded area that's not right on top of the house but is providing the wooded look, we'll get a landscaper to help plan out our front side and back garden then.

Below is our new build outlined in black and our lands outlined in red. My husband just purchased 30 x birch, 30 x oak, 30 x scots pine, 30 x alder and 30 x hazel and plans to plant the saplings himself around the perimeter area marked in blue. For context, the main field in the below map is roughly 250 meters x 200 meters. and the back of the field is roughly 175 meters from the back of the house

Open to all opinions on how best to achieve this, should we plant all scots pine, alder ect together, should we plant completely random and what sort of spacing would be ideal?

 

That looks like a terrific project @saoirse !
My property came with a woodland, with very old oak trees in it. Looking long term, you wouldn't want them close together. I understand that birch and hazel tend to be the "early adopters" in an area, and then the big trees get going. So maybe interplant an occasional oak with a set of the birch, hazel around them? I don't think pine mix well, so perhaps keep them in a block. I find alder to grow very tall and skinny, but they are good in damp conditions so if any of your land is soggy, that's where to put them.
As for spacing, it depends on whether you intend to fell the birch and hazel to give the oaks a chance after about 10 years. Whatever you do, it's worth spacing far enough apart so that a tractor or atv can go between them and keep the brambles down. I've seen a field near me that's just been planted with whips, and they look as though they're only 1-2 m apart! I don't know how they will maintain it unless they are just using brush cutters...

 

Welcome to the forum.
No site specific advice is intended as you do not give your approximate location.
I think you may need to consider the term 'shelter' .
If climatically , then the wider topography will influence your choices. In most areas of England the prevailing wind is from the South West . The big species mentioned will be mainly top canopy and not giving shelter from wind. I think you need to use your hazel, and other hedge species to plant the shelter belt first. This will give some protection to the slower growing trees. Oak in particular will take up to 25 years to show above a hedge height of say 4 metres.
The other consideration is that of outlook.
Is it likely that the open fields remain agricultural? (A difficult area of any certainty with current Government policy !!)
In my mind would be to firstly adequately fence the planting area to protect from deer and rabbits.(and farmers !)
Then plant boundary hedges and a grassland strip for smaller wildlife, butterflies wild flowers etc. This will act as access to the plantation.
Plan your planting, orientate so that no strait lines are obvious but keep open for trimming. Plant so that in future you can thin out to select specimen trees. Not all planted will grow. Consider the plan with mature trees in mind. You could copy and paste a forest to see how it looks. Scots pine are 'lollipop' trees whereas oaks are more conical in profile
I think you may find that the Woodland Trust give advice on new plantings; and in some circumstances will donate trees , although you may have to meet their criteria.
I am envious of the challenge you face.....

 

Thank you very much for the responses.

@CarolineL we don't plan n doing much maintenance to be honest. These will be at the back of the land along the periphery wall so we plan on letting them develop naturally and just cut away the brambles if and when they appear. Would you recommend this approach?


@infradig I rally appreciate the detailed response. We're based near Oban on the west coast of Scotland so quite humid with a lot of rain. We have fencing and will also cover to protect from rabbits and other wildlife. When I say shelter, I probably meant from a viewing perspective. The site is very open and there is little privacy.

We would like to plant the trees (birch, hazel, alder, oak and scots pine) around the land but unsure what way to go about it. Do we plant them in clusters or would the scots pine for instance look better spread out. There is some farm sheds to the back of the property that are eye sores so would like to block those out also. I'm not sure what you mean by "You could copy and paste a forest to see how it looks"

 

Hi @saoirse brambles grow as if on steroids, and root where their arching stems touch. By the time they show themselves outside the trees, they would already have formed thick mounds making access difficult. With the damper conditions you and I have, both bramble and ivy tend to take over, and could make it difficult for young trees to get going.
So I would recommend a brush cutter and occasional walks up and down cutting back the problem plants before they get too far. (Only every few months) For example, around here, goat willow grows rapidly from seed and forms thickets before you notice.

 

Thanks @CarolineL , I plan on continuing to cut them back twice a year, done so last Autumn and it took 4-5 hours.

I'm looking for a similar end result, with the trees we have, happy t add a bit of colour then in future.

 

That would be a worthy accomplishment if you can achieve that. I do hope you have 60+ years left to complete it! Maybe collect trees and add to the scheme for significant family dates etc.
I have in earlier years given time volountarily to help tame an oak plantation, 8 acres planted in 2000 having been clear felled first. It is surprising what returns once the light reaches the ground. Nature abhors a bare space.
Good luck .

 

@infradig hahahahaaha touche! I know they won't reach that height in my lifetime but would love to add at least start it on the path t this

 

Achieving a natural feeling distribution can be a challenge.

One experiment that can be interesting is to throw a handful of stones in different colours (to represent the different species) then use wherever they land as planting location guide...