Rescuing our trees from weeds — our April 2026 volunteering day

Familiar territory

The EcoSend team are no strangers to The Paddock, a wetlands conservation site near Tottenham Hale.

We first visited back in 2023, when we’d just launched EcoSend(!). Then again in 2024, when the team planted exactly 106 trees (JT counted).

And so we were delighted to return this year. But this time, armed to the teeth with shears, pitchforks, and rakes.

Why?

Our brute force and violence was needed to save our still-budding tree babies from an invasive overgrowth of nettles and other pesky weeds.

Back to Izzy

We were re-united with Izzy, the wonderful site manager who has been our patient and welcoming guide ever since we first visited The Paddock.

We were also joined by a team of dedicated (and diligent!) local volunteers.

After a quick intro and Health & Safety speech, we were shown to the armoury and picked out our weapons for the day.

Moving a hedge

Before we were allowed to save our tree babies however, we had to move a dead hedge, to widen the verge and create a new boundary.

This involved a lot of heavy lifting and wheelbarrow moving, and after just an hour our 30-something (apart from Amira) bodies were already starting to complain!

Alongside our fellow volunteers, we made short work of the hedge. And soon enough, it was comfortably settled into its new position.

The battle begins

After finishing off the hedge and a few other odd-jobs, we broke for a quick lunch then regathered for the main task of the day. Defending our trees!

Izzy guided us to the plot where we had planted the tree babies back in 2024. But due to the massive weed overgrowth, it was clear to see they were struggling.

Weeds, nettles, all growing at turbo-speed and competing with our poor little ones for sunlight and nutrients.

After a quick talk by Izzy on best practice for felling the weeds, we eagerly got to work!

And so for the next few hours the battle raged…

We hacked, sheared, and uprooted all the weeds we could lay our hands on.

Leaving a battlefield strewn with dead weeds, and our baby trees finally standing proudly; able to breathe and access the sunlight and soil once again.

Weary but victorious warriors

And so the day drew to an end. Our little trees now rescued from the scourge of weeds, and standing proud. Ready once again to grow and prosper.

We had a lot of fun with Izzy and the team, and it was wonderful as always to have a brief break from the laptop screen and get out & about in our local community.

TCV, who run The Paddock, are a lovely organisation who do great work across many conservation sites in the UK.

You can get involved with volunteering at a site near you from the link here.

Stay tuned for our next volunteer day in Q3!

Chris