Step by Step Fedge In A Day (and a bit)

Saturday 3rd February 2018
Today was drizzly, all day.
But with colder weather forecast for the coming week I took the plunge (not quite literally) and decided to get six metres of fedge complete with archway constructed in a day, right through from harvesting the willow.

The idea was to mirror the fedge we made last weekend, creating a corridor with archways off to the side leading into the future butterfly meadow areas.

So here it is step by step:

Step 1
Peg out ground cover fabric. The willow slips are programmed to root and sprout, but they still need a little protection from competition from grasses, at least until they get their roots established.

Step 2
Harvest the willow.
I pollard my willows so the new growth doesn't get nibbled at ground level. It's easier to harvest too.

Step 3
Trim and Sort the willow.
Long straight stems are best. The longest for the archway, the next thickest and straightest for the uprights.
Weavers need to be just a little thinner and anything really long and thin is ideal for binders.

Step 4
Drive holes into the ground and insert the uprights, ideally a foot into the ground. Align the uprights in the plane of the fedge and firm the ground around their bases.
It doesn't matter if they are not yet completely vertical - this can be achieved when the binders are woven in.
For the arch, the uprights are inserted into the ground at an angle so they bow outwards. The tops are tied temporarily with baling twine, trying to pull the arches into a consistent  symmetrical shape.


Step 5
Weave in the binders. This is the trickiest part. Pairs of long willow whips weave in and out and over and under. They bind everything together (hence the name).
I find that this step often causes the whole fedge to pull one way or another. If this happens I pull it back with cord and a stake. Once the fedge is complete it will hold itself in place and no longer pull one way. Then the cord can be released.



Step 6
Insert the weavers. These go into the ground and weave up across three uprights. This is where everything suddenly comes together.

By this stage I really was working in the dark. The temperature was dropping and my wet hands were turning numb. I kept going, keen to at least get all the whips into the ground before it turned icy over the next few days. But eventually I had to give up. I placed lengths of twine on the ground which are used to temporarily tie things in and I couldn't even see where they were. I was pretty much working by touch alone!

I didn't get the whole thing done in a day, but given the conditions and how short the days are at the moment I was pretty amazed how close I had come. Another hour or so of light and I would have finished.

Sunday 4th February 2018
Steps 6 - 8
Up early to get the fedge finished (and get some photos of where I got to last night).
First those last few weavers.

Step 7
All the temporary ties (baling twine) get replaced with tying tube. This is a hollow rubber tube which is soft on the wood but over time should create a pressure graft where it is used to tie living and growing wood.

Step 8
Trim everything to look neat, tie the projecting tops of the uprights into design of own choice.

And that's it.
OK, I've simplified it a bit.
If you want to go ahead and build your own fedge, there is a great video on YouTube by the people at Willowbank. (I actually purchased the DVD before I found this.) Unfortunately it stops just before Step 8, but you can probably work out what to do.

I'll post pictures in the summer to show what it looks like with leaves on.