Willow planted

I met Lin, a stranger, who’d won the gift I’d offered to Thorington Church fund raiser: a night in the cabin. It turned out she was a willow weaver, basket maker, wool twister, a remarkable creative woman. What about willow for your land? she said.

So it was Sam and I motored down to near Woodbridge, to meet Lin’s alotment and see how she grew and harvested her family of willow. We learned some of the names: Britzensis (yellow) / Daphnoides (shady side) / Whissendr / Black Marl (basic) / Dicky Meadows / Dark Dicks / Green Dicks / Packing Twine / Welsh White / Norbury, and their different properties. It was encouraging to see how tall 2 year old willow grew. Sam and I harvested two types. Lin had prepared 4 other types for us.

We would plant on the land.

Lin planted in groups of 5 x 5 – 25 per meter, a foot apart. So close. Plant so 4 inches above the ground the rest under. Plant through weed suppressant matting.

Planting the willow

MJ, Tom and Jo did the hard work. We laid the membrane, along the cut part of the field next to the where the vines will go, along the north south axis (later I asked David King to cut the remainder of the land). Pinned down, then pierced with the samples collected from Lin from her Wickham alotment. We started with Britzensis, bright yellow. Wind comes on Friday, so we hope to complete the planting tomorrow