I ran a day’s course for a group of Bedfordshire gardeners last Saturday, all of whom, apparently wanted to know how to make an obelisk from willow. After a week of hot, sunny days, during which I’d got sunburnt (odd for March around here), Saturday turned out decidedly cold with a penetrating wind blowing from the north-west. […]
It’s been 10 months amazingly, but I was back at Woburn Farmers’ Market today. It was cold and I hadn’t put on enough clothes. Also someone had dug up the market so we were pushed across the road onto a lovely bit of grass. After a deal of grumbling we pressed on and it wasn’t too […]
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 […]
It may be hard work getting the stuff cut, sorted, bundled and safely inside; and it’s certainly bitterly cold at the moment, but on a day like today the willow looks completely wonderful. A miraculous transformation takes place sometime in the autumn and I’m still not sure exactly when. From a more or less uniform greenish […]
Sorting willow for length We’ve started cutting willow at last. At this early stage, as usual, it feels like an ordeal, but we’ve made some progress this week and the weather has been fairly kind – just an hour of rain so far. The quality seems good this year although in some varieties quantities are […]
Starting to collect sticks together for some hurdle jobs and hedge stakes, I’ve been cutting sallow or goat willow, Salix caprea. Now I know some of you will scoff at my use of willow for hedge stakes. Actually I know some of you will get quite cross about it. Everyone knows that willow will grow if used in a hedge, so […]
Spring has arrived with a flurry of orders for pea sticks, bean poles and obelisks of all sorts destined for the gardens of those who are rather more prepared for the coming season than us. Some years we never quite reach a state of preparedness. I’ve made a huge obelisk today, which is an order for […]
Whilst our arable neighbours are enjoying watching their cereal crops growing slowly, from the comfort of their Land Rovers, we are gearing up for the willow harvest. This year we are mechanising to a record extent. A power scythe joins the clearing saw to reduce the ridiculous time we have spent cutting willow in the past. That’s a […]