Kitchen Garden Forum

Hi
I went on holiday to cornwall and a visit to the Eden Project blew me away! One of the many ideas I came away with was that a rather drafty spot on my allotment garden might be a suitable place for a low willow fedge - just the very basic kind of a bent over hoop of willow. I mentioned this to a friend who promtly arrive bearing a big bundle of the stuff about 2 meters long. Can I really just push each end in the soil and it will grow? Its been in a bucket of cold water since last weedend and the leaves have desicated somewhat. No idea what variety it is - long thin leaves and light green stems. Any advice gratefully recieved

Hi Newbie,
To some people Willow is the greatest thing since sliced bread but I view them as great guzzlers of water. I have them in an area where my septic tank discharges and they are there to soak up excess water. This they do with a vengeance and some more and they need constantly cutting back.
Now if you have not got boggy ground my advice is to give them a miss and go for a different sort of hedging as a windbreak.
I appreciate that this may disappoint you but you probably haven't got either the moisture or the room for them.
JB.

Well, there you go! Good job I asked. It seems it is an 'elegant' solution for Eden as most of the willow fedging is in the bottom of the site which no doubt has drainage problems when it rains but on my garden, less moisture is not what I want. I will indeed look for another solution me thinks. Thanks JB

I could do with a windbreak too. I have some old hawthorn at the end of my plot and I was wondering about attempting some rudimentary training. What does the team think? Regards Penny

Hi Penny

If the hawthorn is old and straggly, I suppose you could always try laying it.

Never done it myself but have a look HERE

thanks but not straggly trunks then whippy new growth. Thanks for the inf though looks good. Regards
Penny