Informative & inspirational events, talks, courses & workshops

Staking Your Tall and Unruly Plants

Posted:3 April 2014

Getting going with your plant supports is such an important activity at this time of year, as suddenly all the perennials are coming to life and seem to be growing an inch or more a day!

At The Garden House we’ve recently run several invaluable workshops on how to create your own natural plant supports using hazel, birch and willow.

Bea Andrews, ex-head gardener at Perch Hill, Sarah Raven’s garden in Kent, led an excellent workshop on the practical aspects of staking using hazel and birch pea-sticks. These materials are excellent for when you really want the supports to become almost invisible once the plants have grown, so while looking very organic and decorative now, they will ‘disappear’ once the plants get going.

Then on Saturday 29 March, a group gathered in the wonderful sunshine to make highly decorative round willow plant supports and curly-top fences with Sussex-based willow and basketry artist Jackie Sweet. These look wonderful and are ideal for keeping plants such as delphiniums, peonies and asters just where you want them!

 

They certainly require some dexterity and experience to make, but once you’re underway, are remarkably quick to create.  We had a fantastic day – interspersed in true Garden House style with a delicious lunch, and tea and cake!

 

 

Jackie recommends buying willow from Musgrove Willows, willow growers and suppliers of all sorts of basket-making materials, based in Somerset. http://www.musgrovewillows.co.uk

She also brushes the finished pieces with an exterior grade furniture oil, allowing the pieces to dry for a few days before pushing into position in the garden or vegetable patch.

This is the perfect time of year to begin to stake your tall or unruly plants before they put on a lot of growth, so have a go!

 

 

 

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