HUNDREDS of trees are set to be planted in Salisbury next week as volunteers enhance the city’s new “mini urban forest”.

Members of the Salisbury Wildlife Group will plant 420 young trees on Tuesday, March 10 at New Bridge Road.

The trees, supplied by the Woodland Trust, have already arrived and are being prepared ahead of the community planting session, which is due to begin at 9.30am.

(Picture: Salisbury Wildlife Group)

The project will use the Miyawaki method – a planting technique designed to create dense, fast-growing native woodland in small urban spaces.

By planting a mix of species close together, the method aims to encourage rapid growth and create a self-sustaining mini forest.

In its early years the new woodland will remain relatively small, with many of the young trees unlikely to reach more than a metre tall while they establish.

(Picture: Salisbury Wildlife Group)

To help mark out the site, volunteer warden Rod from Blackmoor has supplied a dozen wooden stakes, cut and sharpened from old deer fencing.

Volunteers are also being encouraged to help build up a rich woodland floor by bringing native plants from their gardens, such as primroses, bluebells and woodruff, to plant alongside the trees.

The group is also planning further conservation work later in the month, with another volunteer day scheduled at Blackmoor on March 19 to install fencing around this spring’s woodland coupes.

Organisers say the fencing work should be easier than usual after preparations were carried out in advance, although volunteers will still have around 50 posts to drive into the ground.