Mid Winter and the meadow is at its deadest. Time for some other work. Besides the usual boring stuff we had a bit of fun weaving a screen to protect the shady bed and a raised bed for the herbs.
I got the oak stakes from a local woodworker who manages a part of the excellent Waresley Wood Nature reserve. The stakes and the ash cross beams were leftovers from my initial attempt to work with willow making a living hedge in the front. It is only small and is really an attempt to try to copy the excellent work done at Harlow Carr by the RHS, shown here: http://www.rhs.org.uk/publications/pubs/garden0306/willow.asp
We got the willow from the excellent people at Musgrove Willows (see my links section for details) who recommended a mixed bundle of dried willow and gave me advice regarding soaking it to make it more flexible. I dug a trench and used it to hold a tube of plastic strong enough to hold the willow and the water which filled it. We dug holes for each postand simply rammed the earth around them hard. Since the screen would allow wind to pass through the posts should not need to be concreted in. The thin ash rods were then fixed to the posts to provide a framework through which the willow could be woven. This was the fun bit so I made sure Nicole was involced. Starting with the largest rods we built a rough framework which we then filled in with progressively finer rods. As we were doing it we discovered that by twisting a bunch of rods together held in place with a thinner rod a thick and effective piece could be made which looked great and was very strong.
The idea was to test the design and try to learn the technique to see if it is possible for a longer barrier to control access to the more dangerous end of the garden (the fun bit). But we won't need that until we have some reason to control access. Yes I mean the pitter patter of tiny gardener's wellies. So when you see one going up, you'll know what it means...
In the meantime it should look good and provide a bit of shelter. We are growing a blue flowered deciduous Clematis up it,so we will look forward to its blooms. I don't want to blow my own trumpet and I certainly don't think it matches the work at Harlow Carr, but I am pretty happy with it.
After the screen there was some willow left over and enough ash stakes to make a raised bed, which is about all you can say about it. We applied the twisted rods method here and it worked well.After it was filled and planted I realised that the manhole cover infont of the bed was at a bizarre angle which looked rubbish and which made the grass awkward to cut. Because of this and to improve access to the herbs I laid a stone patio. This was a total pain in the arse since I had to cut most of the stone with an angle grinder. Still, it looks pretty good, I think. You can see the Dutch influence in the quirky angles. Heel modern!