
WILLOW HARVEST
the story of my willow bed, growing, harvesting and making willow works
3 min read


WILLOW HARVEST
I have been making hand woven Plant Supports for over a decade, starting off with Hazel Rods from the woods and hedgerows and weaving with whatever willow I could get my hands on.
In 2012 I established a Withy bed, first with cuttings taking by hand and then expanding to include nursery bought varieties, planting several different types of willow including
Salix Alba (White willow)
Salix alba var. vitel.
Britzensis Salix daphnoides (Violet willow)
Salix purpurea (Purple osier)
Also elsewhere (not in the withy bed)
Salix baby var.pekin.Tortuosa (twisted)
Salix x sepulcralis var.chrysocoma (golden weeping)
Salix Babylonia (weeping)
Cornus Sanguinea (dogwood)
Some started off as standards, others only tiny cuttings/whips. Now they thrive and demand several hours of labour in harvest. Fencing was a priority with ‘deer scarers’ on the edges as well a landscape matting a wood chip to suppress weeds, the growth of which has changed over the years from grass and other low-lying plants to huge bramble and hedgerow trees.
Each year around December/January I start the epic task of Willow harvesting. This includes cutting, grading, stacking and moving the bundles of willow. Furthermore, weeding of bramble etc and transplanting of several young saplings which seem to do well amongst the humous of willow leaves. This work now takes on average 30 hours total spread over whatever time/weather allows during the winter months. Some years I have had help, obviously JT usually mucks in, mother who was amazing once set to task with the secateurs and loppers as well as young Grace who was a trooper considering she came on a soaking wet day.
Most varieties are used to weave the annual stock of Plant Supports which are offered at local markets and online. Others are left to ‘bud’ up and provide more valuable forage for pollinators etc. The larger lengths get used in hurdle making and the thicker are cut up for firewood. In inspired by historical records of pathways made through the wetland of the Fenlands, I experimented by placing long lengths of willow down on the ground as paths. This has worked very well over the years and areas of the land that were impassable other than with waders at certain times of year, are now dry as any other path to walk on. In keeping with our life/work ethos, Everything is purposed.
More drought years have shown that the chosen position of this bed contends well and mostly all varieties survived the driest of seasons.
Over the years, the fence line has also been planted with Salix Alba and subsequently woven in as a natural barrier.
In the early years much was needed to deter rabbits and deer, as well as various rodents nibbling at the young shoots, with at times huge breaches in the wire fence and burrows within the withy bed.
Yet the gift of the many other species that have been sustained and housed by this planting has far exceeded the losses of the past.
2022 introduced one of the most curious insects to me. Whilst walking a tour of the perimeters I noticed a strange looking grub on the leaves of some of the willow. Cream/orange and black weird alien looking bodies covered in ‘squares of black’ in ridge lines over the backs. As my curiosity gained and I got closer I noticed that when disturbed that black spiky hairs ‘popped’ straight out of each of the squares with a liquid drop at the very tip and quite suddenly the over-whelming smell of almonds filled the air! Of course after much playing with blades of grass to poke at them and getting video clips, I noticed vibrant red shiny beetles on many other plants, clearly chomping away on the leaves. In fact once noticed, both grub and beetle were absolutely everywhere, though I did note that although there seemed an infestation on some willows, other varieties were clearly not favoured by this insect.
So yes the beetle was the adult stage of the larvae grub and yes I did also get a chance to see the metamorphosis stages over subsequent days of observing them, weird little cocoons hanging from the underside of leaves, stems and even on the wire fence.
So once identified it turns out these are the wide spread Poplar Leaf Beetle Chrysomela populi which obviously also forage on willows. The smelly liquid emitted when under threat is due to the salicylic acid consumed in the leaves they eat.
Read more in our other blog about the Willow Thrones and Living Willow Structures established around the Withy Bed and other areas of The Shire.
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