I’ve spent a couple of days recently building a rabbit net around a Bedfordshire veg patch. I was fairly skeptical to begin with, when my client suggested building a rabbit net that would be supported by hazel stakes and decorated with willow. However after some experimentation and discussion, we’ve developed a fence that I’m pretty […]
We’ve been very busy since February and particularly in April and May, making structures for gardeners – obelisks, cloches, hurdles. At the same time, demand for hazel bean poles and pea sticks has been very strong and we’ve just about sold all our stock this spring.I think Monty Don may be behind the increase in […]
One of the pleasures of doing this job (and there are several), is meeting our customers. It may be that an interest in sticks makes people laid back and interesting or that we often sell sticks to basket makers and gardeners, and that they are particularly friendly. I’m sure there’s a connection. Yesterday I delivered lots of large […]
I woke up early this morning, thinking to get some paper work done before getting out to use all the light the day can muster. Of course I forgot the weather. It’s raining hard and the forecast suggests that it could continue through to the end of Christmas Eve. I did know this but had […]
In September I was asked to visit a very beautiful garden near St Albans to talk about a couple of jobs. Here was a gardener with great taste and some clear ambitions to create something lovely. I was flattered to be asked to make a contribution; flattered and a little nervous. A large square sand pit needed a […]
I was invited to talk to the Biddenham Gardeners’ Association on Tuesday evening and it was lovely. Actually, because it was dark I didn’t see much of the village itself, but what I could make out in the street-lightless gloom, seemed very attrtactive. What I can be certain of is the attentiveness and friendliness of […]
I’m talking to Biddenham Gardeners’ Association on Tuesday evening and thought I should have something willowy to take with me so I’ve been out cutting a bit of willow and used it to finish a couple of balls I started a while ago. It’s too early for this really – I’ve spent quite a while pulling leaves […]
I delivered some beef to a customer a couple of days ago, for whom I did some work earlier in the year. It was lovely to see her again and great to see the willow fence we built and to hear how pleased she is with it. As predicted when we discussed the project in July 2011, […]
Sometimes things go wrong and when I’m working on my own it’s doubly difficult to cope with. After nearly three hours making a huge willow ball recently, it just didn’t feel right and whatever I did seemed to make things worse rather than better. In the end it burst open like a horrible balloon accident, creating something that looked […]
After a couple of days work I’ve finished this thirty metres of open weave willow fence. It took a while to decide exactly where to go with this job. I’m always very careful about recommending the use of living willow – it can be a right pain once it gets going and in the wrong place its speed […]