The Heartwood Journal
Practical advice from working arborists on trees, hedges, habitats and firewood.
2026-09-03
Kiln Dried or Seasoned: What Actually Burns Better
If your stove smokes, blackens its glass and never quite gets going, the wood is almost certainly too wet. It is the single biggest difference between a good fire and a…
2026-09-03
Nesting Season: What Tree Work Can Still Go Ahead
Every March we get calls that open with an apology: I suppose you cannot do anything until the autumn? Usually we can. What still goes ahead Most tree surgery. Crown reductions,…
2026-09-03
Hedge Cutting Season: When You Can Cut, and When You Cannot
Every year we have the same conversation in March, and again in August. Someone wants a hedge cut, and the answer depends entirely on the date. What the law says Wild birds, their…
2026-09-03
Storm-Proofing Your Trees Before Winter
Storm damage looks like bad luck. Usually it is not. The trees that fail in a January gale were nearly always showing something in October, and the work to deal with them was…
2026-08-26
The Heathland Management Calendar: What Happens on Dorset's Heaths and When
Lowland heath is rarer than rainforest, and Dorset holds some of the best of what's left. It looks untouched, and that's the illusion. Without constant, carefully timed…
2026-08-26
Veteran Tree Management on Private Estates: Keeping Ancient Trees Standing
A 400-year-old oak is not a large version of a young oak. It's a different organism in a different phase of life, hosting hundreds of species in its decaying heartwood and…
2026-08-26
Japanese Knotweed and Invasive Species: What Dorset Landowners Must Know
Few phrases derail a property sale faster than "Japanese knotweed". But the legal position is widely misunderstood, and knotweed is only one of several invasive plants Dorset…
2026-08-26
Ash Dieback in Dorset: What Landowners Need to Do Now
Ash dieback (Hymenoscyphus fraxineus) is no longer approaching Dorset; it's here, in effectively every parish. Most ash will be affected to some degree, and a significant share…
2026-08-26
Crown Reduction vs Topping: Why the Difference Matters for Your Trees
"Can you take a third off the top?" It's the most common request in tree work, and the answer separates professional arborists from someone with a chainsaw and a ladder. Both…
2026-08-26
Holiday Park Tree Management: Making the Most of the Closed Season
A holiday park's trees are part of the product: shade, shelter, the reason the pitches feel like somewhere worth staying. They're also a year-round safety duty with a very narrow…
2026-08-26
How Much Firewood Do You Need for a Winter? A Practical Guide
The most common firewood question we get isn't about species or moisture; it's simply "how much do I need?" Here's the honest maths, based on years of delivering across Dorset.…
2026-08-26
What Happens After the Tree Comes Down? Stumps, Regrowth and Replanting
Most tree removal quotes end at ground level, and most customers only think about the stump afterwards, when the mower hits it for the third time. Here's the full picture of what…
2026-08-26
Site Clearance and Ecology: Sequencing Development Works Around Wildlife Law
On paper, site clearance is the simple first line of the build programme. In practice it's the stage most likely to blow the programme up, because vegetation removal collides with…
2026-08-26
How to Choose a Commercial Tree Surgery Contractor (A Buyer's Checklist)
Procuring tree work for a school, holiday park, housing association or estate is not like hiring someone for a garden conifer. When it goes wrong on a commercial site, it goes…
2026-08-26
Wood Chip Mulch: The Most Underrated Thing You Can Do for Your Garden
Ask any professional gardener the highest-value, lowest-effort improvement for beds and borders and you'll get the same answer: mulch, properly, once a year. And the best general…
2026-08-26
Hedgerow Rules for Dorset Landowners: Cutting Dates, Nesting Birds and the Law
Hedges sit under more legislation than almost any other garden or farm feature, nesting bird protection, cross-compliance cutting windows, and the Hedgerow Regulations for…
2026-08-26
Why Winter Is the Best Time for Most Tree Work
Every spring we take calls that start "we probably should have done this in the winter", and they're usually right. For most (not all) tree work, the dormant season is simply the…
2026-08-26
Spider Lift vs Scaffold: The Real Cost of Working at Height
When a job needs working at 10-22 metres, most people's first thought is scaffolding. For long-duration works like a full re-roof or a render job, scaffold earns its keep. But for…
2026-08-26
Storm-Season Tree Preparation for Property and Facilities Managers
Every winter the same pattern: a named storm crosses Dorset, and for 72 hours every tree surgeon's phone rings with emergencies that were visible in September. For anyone managing…
2026-08-26
BS 5837 Tree Surveys for Planning: What They Are and When You Need One
Submit a planning application on a site with trees on it or overhanging it, and Dorset Council or BCP Council will almost always require an arboricultural report to BS 5837:2012,…
2026-08-26
Tree Planting in Dorset: Right Tree, Right Place, Actually Alive in Five Years
Planting a tree feels like the easy half of tree work. Yet walk any new development or well-meant community scheme three summers on and count the dead whips in their tubes. Most…
2026-08-26
SANG Explained: What Developers Near the Dorset Heathlands Need to Know
If your site sits within about 5km of the Dorset Heathlands Special Protection Area (and a remarkable amount of developable land in south-east Dorset does), your residential…
2026-08-26
Biodiversity Net Gain: A Practical Guide for Dorset Developers
Since Biodiversity Net Gain became mandatory under the Environment Act, virtually every planning consent in England carries a condition most developers didn't have to think about…
2026-08-26
Tree Safety and the Duty of Care: A Guide for Schools and Parish Councils
Every school, parish council, village hall committee and playing field trust owns the same quiet liability: trees near people. The Occupiers' Liability Acts and the HSE's guidance…
2026-02-06
Delivering Compliant Land Management for Modern Development
SANG, Heathland Restoration Ecological Land Management in Practice Development near the Dorset heaths comes with obligations that have to be delivered on the ground, not just…
2024-11-29
The Benefits of Using a Professional for Landscaping
A good garden is worth paying someone to get right. Levels, drainage, soil and planting all have to work together, and the mistakes are expensive to undo. Here is what a…
2024-11-20
Why Heartwood's Kiln-Dried Logs Are the Best Choice for Your Fireplace
Wet wood is the reason most stoves disappoint. Our kiln dried logs come out of our own tree work, are dried below 20% moisture and are checked with a calibrated meter before they…
2024-09-30
Tree Removal: Knowing When It’s Time to Say Goodbye
Most trees are worth keeping, and a good arborist will tell you so. But some are past saving, and the longer a failing tree stands near a house or a road the more it costs to deal…
2023-11-28
Winter Gardening Guide: Essential Tasks for Your Dorset Garden
A Dorset garden in winter looks finished, but it is the season that decides how the next one goes. Frost protection, bare-root planting, pruning and a tidy-up now save a lot of…
2023-10-18
Winter Tree Trimming: Ensuring Health and Mitigating Storm Damage
Winter is when most tree work is best done. The leaves are off, the structure is visible, the tree is dormant and the ground takes machinery better. It is also the season before…
2023-08-09
Attracting Butterflies & Bees: Creating a Pollinator-Friendly Garden
Pollinators need three things from a garden: flowers across a long season, somewhere to nest and a break from the mower. None of it needs to look untidy. Here is how we build it…
2023-06-01
When is the Best Time of Year to Trim My Hedges?
It is the question we get asked most. The short answer is that timing depends on the hedge, and that between March and August wild birds are nesting and the law comes into it.…
2023-02-27
What's the Difference Between an Arborist and a Tree Surgeon?
The two words get used interchangeably, and often they describe the same person. Where they differ is in emphasis: one leans towards the diagnosis, the other towards the work in…
2023-02-24
The Importance of Using a Professional Tree Surgeon
Tree work goes wrong quickly. A chainsaw above head height, a limb that swings the wrong way, a ladder against a branch that was never going to hold. It is why the work is…
2023-02-24
Stump Removal Dorset - How to Get the Job Done Right
Once the tree is down the stump is still in the way. It stops you mowing, invites honey fungus and keeps sending up regrowth. Grinding it out is quick with the right machine and…
2023-02-24
Creating Beautiful Landscapes
Supply and Planting of Large Trees - Creating Beautiful Landscapes Planting a semi-mature tree is a different job from planting a whip. The rootball is heavy, the planting pit…
2023-02-22
Native Trees and Plants in Dorset
Native species do better here because they belong here. They cope with the chalk, the clay and the salt wind, and they carry the insects and birds that non-natives do not. These…