Thursday 30th March 2023
Tunnel Vision !
Drizzle and showers of rain made for a muddy session today. Although muddy underfoot it was perfect conditions for planting out our willow tunnel, the ground being soft and the willow watered as it was put in.
Having sorted the willow rods into various sizes we started by planting out two parallel rows of uprights using the thickest lengths.
The uprights are pushed about a foot into the ground and are angled to point outwards. This makes for a more rounded final arch.
Here you can see clearly that the uprights have all been planted and a horizontal 'binder' is now tied in down the whole length of the structure at about waist height. This gives us some basic stability.
Once we have the basic structure two thinner 'weavers' are planted between each of the uprights
We then starting tieing in each pair of weavers, one going to the left and the other to the right, in a pleasing arch motif.
As can be seen from the picture on the right, the finished effect is very pleasing to the eye.
We have made a great start to the structure, but the second inner row needs to be finished off. As the weeks pass and the willow starts to grow a continual process of weaving in the new growth will make structure stronger and denser.
