What to do with partially boggy land?

[bushcraftlearner83729]

Yeah but there's also laws about not polluting watercourses....

..... you shouldn't use feces raw, need to aerobically compost feces properly first, then use on fruit trees rather than leafy veg. Urine is much easier to deal with. (There's a book about doing "humanure" properly, if I can find where I put my copy I can let you know the title).

Huh? I was just mentioning what was in the documentary. A historic thing, not what I am intending to do!

 

[Tengu]

Willow sprouts like billy-o.

My Grandfather used willow peasticks...often ended up more willow shoots than peas.

(The weeping willow in this country started life as a dismantled basket planted out by a curious receiver of a foreign gift, I believe)

Go find a willow you like and cut a few small branches from it.

(In fact its entirely possible there is someone on here who will send you a bundle)

I dont know about clearing, but provided the young plant isnt outcompeted, I doubt you need to do much.

 

[bushcraftlearner83729]

Willow sprouts like billy-o.

My Grandfather used willow peasticks...often ended up more willow shoots than peas.

(The weeping willow in this country started life as a dismantled basket planted out by a curious receiver of a foreign gift, I believe)

Go find a willow you like and cut a few small branches from it.

(In fact its entirely possible there is someone on here who will send you a bundle)

I dont know about clearing, but provided the young plant isnt outcompeted, I doubt you need to do much.

My questions as to planting seem to be answered here: https://www.thewillowbank.com/willow-cuttings-for-sale/

Bigger ones tolerate more weeds, smaller like less competition.

Another question, how can I get cheap timber for woodworking? My woodland on here is nothing to speak of so thought I could buy some in.

Someone elsewhere mentioned round wood and read it is the cheapest since it is unprocessed, or least processed, but looking online I don't see places that sell it to the public like that.

I am not fussy about the type just that it is relatively straight to make useful things out of like benches, walls and roofs.

Can I buy cheap off cuts from local timber yards?

 

[Laurentius]

I looked it up and they are extremely expensive! £35 for just one is the cheapest I saw so far!

I have read that they can grow from shoots and my mum has a small one in front of her house. I say small, so I am not sure how many cuttings I would get from it to make a whole, albeit small, woodland from it.

By the way, in preparation for planting, does the land have to be cleared of the long grass and brambles and other rubbish or will the trees just out compete the other stuff? Would be great if I didn't have to clear beforehand as that will be a lot of work but will do it if it will make a big difference to the chances the trees will have.

Willow grows very easily from shoots, and very quickly too. If you have an established willow and pollard it, you have a ready supply of willow whips to plant. It will soon get established. It is exponential, once you have a few established the amount of shoots you will get off them will just multiply. I have known willows to grow more than 2 metres in a year, especially in boggy areas, they love it.

 

[GreyCat]

@bushcraftlearner83729: I mentioned Planning because in some authorities, putting hard core down for vehicle access needs permission.

What local authorities don't typically like is anything which they feel might potentially lead to breach of a policy such as "no new dwellings outside designated areas or as infill." Things like hardcore going down for parking on agricultural land, from a person living in a van, is likely to be see as the start of a slippery slope towards trying to get permission for a residential development which otherwise wouldn't be permitted.

I don't know what your long-term intentions are- only you know that- but you come across to me as someone who lives in a van, has bought some land and intends to park on it and live there, and try to live self-sufficiently. Whilst this may be a laudable aim, there is nevertheless a bunch of bureaucracy governing such things, and if you want to navigate that successfully, a clear and realistic plan is required.

Willow: the bare-root (bare root- not cut rod) Salix verminalis will establish in a boggy area in grassland without weed suppression, but they are slower to get away and then grow more slowly. The retailers recommend cutting the competing stuff down and then putting weed suppression down for the first could of years. (I've been experimenting with various planting on a damp Welsh hillside the past couple of years so I am speaking from recent experience. I have had some successes and a bunch of failures- which informed my final plans).

If you want to cut an acre or two of rough Welsh hillside grassland then (again from experience), I strongly recommend getting a big petrol-driven brushcutter-strimmer- a decent make like a Honda, biggest engine they do, you'll also need an arb mask, ear defenders and safety glasses under the arb mask- and get a set of ballistic boots if you want to use the blade rather than the line. It's still hard work but is doable for one person. (Or you could use a scythe- if you have or cna learn the skillset- but you would need a decent ditch blade, Scythes Cymru have a good range and do courses too).

GC

 

[GreyCat]

I looked it up and they are extremely expensive! £35 for just one is the cheapest I saw so far!

I have read that they can grow from shoots and my mum has a small one in front of her house. I say small, so I am not sure how many cuttings I would get from it to make a whole, albeit small, woodland from it.

By the way, in preparation for planting, does the land have to be cleared of the long grass and brambles and other rubbish or will the trees just out compete the other stuff? Would be great if I didn't have to clear beforehand as that will be a lot of work but will do it if it will make a big difference to the chances the trees will have.

You're looking in the wrong place then. Here's a couple of links I posted earlier:

biofuel : https://westwaleswillows.co.uk/product/src-kit/ kit with 200 cuttings of fast growing hybrid plus sheets and pegs and manual for £230.

basketry selection: https://westwaleswillows.co.uk/product/justine3/ £9.95 for a bundle of 5 different basketry willow types, 2 of each, so £1 each.

You can get others, if you buy cuttings (for willow) or bare root it's MUCH cheaper than pot-grown (which is what I suspect your £35 was)- but need to be ordering and planting at the right time of year.

[There's other willow rod suppliers, a big one in Yorkshire and another big on in Leicestershire, I linked the producer in Wales as it's closer and the bigger bundles are collection only].

Now is the time to order bare root plants/trees or willow cuttings- to be delivered between Nov and Feb- they are lifted/cut and planted dormant. Willow rods should again be planted in winter when dormant, the links above estimating delivery from 6 Jan onwards.

GC