Willow, Part One

For a long time I have wanted to make something out of willow rods that would grow when pushed in the ground.  For an even longer time I have wondered what could be done about the fact that the poly tunnel is so visible from the house.  Now, I'm putting the finishing touches on a living willow trellis placed just right to hide that plastic tunnel.

This is the site of the old glass-house, only the foundations of which remained. It was too windy for a glasshouse there. Latterly Shandy and her numerous offspring lived pleasant lives in the glasshouse, burrowing to their hearts' content.

Last month we coppiced the willow shoots planted beside the roundabout so long ago, harvesting some firewood. I thought that the younger shoots might do for willowy projects, but they were thin and short and riddled with anthracnose. Looking on the web, I found that specialist growers offered long disease-resistant bundles for not much money. Musgrove Willows of Somerset had the bundles delivered here two days after the order.

So, willow week!  Starting with erecting two strong end-posts set in concrete. I found bedrock about 6 inches below the grass at one end and spent some time chipping out a socket. Then it was time to dig in  several  barrowloads of home made compost. Finally came the fiddly pleasure of pushing in the rods and weaving the design, just when the east wind was blowing. I've used guy lines to gradually pull into position the rods twisted around the end-posts

  However, that wasn't really final--what ever is, in gardening?  I thought it better to spread a good layer of soil-based compost over the surface, with special attention to the area where the soil is so thin.  We had a clear-out of old bags of compost for that. Phormisol came next, and finally (really?) another layer from the compost heap to hide the phormisol.

I went out to the woods and dug up a few spadefuls of snowdrops to plant along the front edge of the willow-bed. I imagine a bright line of snowdrops cheering up the winter trellis  next January. We will acquire some helleborus argutifolius for the area just below the willow-bed to hide the block foundation of the old glasshouse..

The rest of the willow may make an arbour around the  base of the old wendy house at the top of the new garden. We shall see.

Other garden news: the two camellias transplanted to the north border in front of the top wall of the garden are both coming into flower and looking happy. You can see the bright pink camellia behind the Lord Lambourne apple this year and it will give a better show every year as it grows to the size of the camellias at Bodnant.  In a century or so..