We were open to sharing ideas, ranging from the restoration of meadows to the creation of water bodies for amphibian spawning. However, the project that was ultimately chosen, and which Lidl deemed to be most relevant to its field of activity, was the enhancement of agricultural landscapes, i.e. the same hedge project that we wrote about in our previous post!

Thus, an additional 600 metres of tree-lined avenues were constructed on one sunny day, with 196 seedlings being planted in the process. This time, however, there was a much greater variety of plants used, including lindens, oaks, rowans, honeyberries, aronias, apple trees, etc. We continued mulching with cardboard and wood chips, and, as the work really flew in the hands of Lidl’s team, the hedge planted last year was also cleared of weeds. Altogether, we now have a kilometre-long hedge connecting fields to forests, with a several more kilometres planned for next year. 😊

At this point, we would like to thank the Polli Horticultural Research Centre at the Estonian University of Life Sciences for donating apple trees to us! We would also like to thank Lidl and the people of Estonia. It was great fun working with such hardworking people and contributing to Estonia’s biodiversity. We already know that this won’t be a one-off!

‘Coming here was valuable in itself. Nature here is incredibly beautiful, and everything was more fun and faster than expected’, said the team. ‘The 600 m hedge-planting seemed like a lot at first, but it went quickly, and fortunately, there was another hedge that could be cultivated’.

Was there anything new and exciting, we inquired? ‘Everything about the different mulches and how to use them was very interesting’, said the teammates who also managed to weed last year’s hedge strip. We tested different mulches there, from wool to sawdust, as well as strain protection methods, which we will later analyse to find the most suitable ones.
‘And the company is great, I wouldn’t bother doing it alone, but it’s important that you do it with someone else!’ – that’s probably what the idea behind communal work is all about.