Willow fence

After a day’s volunteering harvesting willow down at Wooplaw community woodland in the Scottish borders, I was lucky enough to come back with a bag of willow cuttings. If only all other shrubs propgated as easily – just cut a slightly pointy end and shove it in the ground. My forest garden is currently fenced off from the chickens with a short wire fence, but wouldn’t it be nice to have a  woven, living ‘fedge’ instead? And of course, it can’t be a boring straight one – so using a length of rope to lay out a suitable twisting line, I’ve pushed in my 2 foot willow sticks. Angling them at 45 degrees means that the side shoots will sprout readily, and can then be interwoven with those from neighbouring cuttings. This may turn out to be a huge mistake – if the willow roots swamp everything else in the shrubbery and forest garden – but I can always pull them up and use them for something else if it all goes horribly wrong! Hopefully I can keep it pruned enough that it won’t get out of control, and just keep it at sufficient height to be chicken-proof

April 18th

May 10th