Pollarding after year 1 and replanting. 

With some free time coming up to Christmas, and the weather behaving, I took the decision to pollard my 1st year willow, and utilise the cuttings to plant year 2.

Pollarding was easy, just cut everything back to 2-3" from the main stem.

This left me with a wheelbarrow full of willow whips varying from 3ft to 6ft long 

Planting the second row involved the same procedure as year 1, with one exception. My whips were  not as thick as the ones I purchased in 2017, so they were unable to support the rabbit guards on their own. I solved this problem by purchasing 200 x 1m long bamboo sticks on ebay. With each new whip I installed a bamboo stick alongside and then slipped the rabbit guard over both. This will also help the lighter whips grow straight for the first few months.

As I had to wait a week for the bamboo to arrive, the rabbits decided to treat themselves at Christmas, and attacked approximately 10 of my newly planted whips. They bit them off about 6 inches up the stem as you can see below (also evidence of their crime left on site!).

Thankfully I had some spare whips, so I replaced the damaged ones and installed the rabbit guards to prevent any further damage. I noted also that my soap has by now all washed away, so I will have to install more before the leaves come out to keep the deer away.

I now have 2 pairs of double rows with a wide gap between them so I can drive the jeep down the middle, and hopefully harvest from either side. I plan to plant additional double rows every year until I can harvest the first set.

The only expense this year was a little weed killer, rabbit guards and some bamboo sticks.