PLANTING A LIVING WILLOW CLASSROOM INSTRUCTIONS This willow classroom was planted in March 2009 at Holy Trinity School in Weymouth, Dorset with willow donated by Abbotsbury Swannery and with the help of the parents, governors and the man who cut the willow. Photograph taken in early June 2009. 1
How to build your own willow classroom You will need: 1. A level area of ground with reasonably fertile soil with no direct competition from any other large plants. 2. A good supply of water. Preferably a tap with a hosepipe. Willow must have lots of water to get established. 3. A supply of freshly cut willow. Small branches up to 3 metres or longer will take if planted and will mean you have a more mature structure sooner. 4. Some willing helpers and about a day or so for a large (30 seat) classroom and less for a smaller structure. Tools: 1. Spade, steel fencing pole and sledge hammer. Lots of green twine or plastic cable ties. Hosepipe. Method : 1. Decide how big you want your classroom to be. If in doubt get the children to sit in a circle and measure it. Using string mark a circle out with bamboo canes or something similar. If you want an entrance tunnel mark this out too, it needs to be wide enough for a wheelchair. The entrance tunnel shown is 140cm wide and the circle is 650cm wide. Tunnels are more interesting with a bend in them 2
2. Dig a shallow trench to plant the willow in, this needs to be 5 cm deep at least. If removing turf, just take a decent slice of turf. (Turf can be used to make a turf bench) The trench in the photo above, is about 30cm wide. The trench prevents grass etc competing with the willow and allows the water to reach where it s needed when watering. This circle slopes slightly allowing the hose to be placed at the top and left on for a while to water the whole circle. This was not a design feature, just good luck. 3. If the willow arrives before the plot is ready store it in plastic dustbins filled with water - do not allow it to dry out. Willow can be left like this for weeks if the job does not get done in one go. Just keep the water topped up. After only a couple of weeks submerged in water you will see the roots starting to appear. 4. Work out where your willow will go, try and create an even framework with the longest, straightest and largest branches. Lay them out evenly around the circle, remember you will need some for the tunnel if you are having one and some for the horizontal supports. 5. To plant the willow, simply push into the ground to a depth of at least 25cm. Provided the willow has been cut cleanly, you will not need to trim the bottom of the branches. If there are any smaller twigs which will be below ground level remove these. Don t discard if they can be planted somewhere else. This is where the steel pole and sledgehammer come in, use these to make holes to put in the larger branches. It may make it easier to water the ground as you go. 6. Where the tunnel or entrance will be you will need more reinforcement so place extra branches close together at this point 3
7. You will need to brace the uprights with some cross poles all the way around. Weave these between the uprights and attach to the uprights with green twine or plastic ties. 8. Decide where you would like windows in your structure. Hint, don t put any too low because the children will climb through them and possibly damage them in the process. They will do this even if you ask them not to. 9. Willow bends really easily, especially in the spring, make the windows any shape you want and tie them in place. These frames will die as they are not planted but they can be replaced or strengthened next year with any spring prunings. 10. Having produced a main framework you are now ready to fill in the walls. To do this use the smaller twigs and start by placing these in the ground slightly outside the larger ones about 20 30cm apart at an angle. (see detail in photo) Place half a dozen or so leaning in one direction then place another row leaning the over way, interweaving them as you go. Push the small twigs in as far as they will go, it s not necessary to go quite as deep as for the branches. 11. You don t need to tie each cross over together, just tie the occasional twig to one of the horizontal or upright supports. The fact that you interweave the twigs holds the majority of them in place. 4
12. Proceed like this until you have completed the circle. It is not an exact science, stand back occasionally as you work round to make sure there is some uniformity in the placing of the twigs. Don t start with different people in different places. (Everyone s spacing s are slightly different) Try having one person to put twigs in at one angle, another person putting twigs as the opposite angle and another weaving them and tying to the supports. 13. When you have put in all the twigs for the main dome then move on to the entrance tunnel. Repeat the construction process but find a tall person or two to cross over the main supports and tie them together overhead. Then if you think it needs it, tie some larger twigs together horizontally along the apex. 14. To create the dome shape we used a green plastic hoop from the PE shed and a high ladder to tie the ends of the main support branches in towards the hoop. These branches will grow together in time but we needed something to train them in the right direction. (see photo below) Quantities The dome and tunnel featured in the photos from Holy Trinity School in Weymouth took: Dome Main Uprights, 30 Horizontals 30 Smaller Interwoven Pieces. 220 Tunnel Main Uprights 47 (we have a long tunnel) Horizontals 25 Smaller Interwoven Pieces 100 5
These are all approximate figures. The circle uprights were 3 metres or more high and thicker than the ones saved for the tunnel. The smaller pieces were from 150 200cm. Aftercare You must water regularly; Every day for the first month, unless you have really heavy rain. Thereafter, a couple of times a week, for the next six months. (Yes that means someone has to come in and do it during the holidays) After that keep an eye on the ground and never let it get so dry cracks are appearing. You can t over water willow. But once a good root system is established it should be fine on it s own unless there is a drought when it might need some extra watering. Keep the trench clear of grass and weeds until the willow is established, probably for the first year. It is tempting to mulch with something like bark but this will end up soaking up the water the willow needs. Some yellowing of leaves and some leaf loss is natural and not every piece of willow will take, but there is always next year to fill in the gaps. 6 GOOD LUCK AND HAPPY PLANTING For any additional information contact Helen Toft at Holy Trinity on 01305 783200
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8 A green hoop from the PE shed.
Special Teachers Chair made by Roger Lanigan of : Mayfield Rural Products Bracken Hollow Higher Woodsford Dorchester Dorset DT2 8BL 01305 852126 9