Thank you for your willow cutting order!
Below you’ll find information on how to plant and care for your cuttings.
Planting Your Willow
Step 1: Gathering Materials
You’ll need the following:
- Your willow cuttings
- A weed barrier (cardboard or plastic)
- Something to secure your weed barrier
- For cardboard: Woodchips or a few rocks/bricks (read below!)
- For plastic: Staples/pins
- Not necessary but can be very helpful, especially in clay soil: Something to assist preparing a hole for your willow! My current favorite method is 1/2″ rebar and a hammer.
Step 2: Preparing Your Weed Barrier
I use good ole fashion cardboard. Plain brown cardboard without the waxy plastic coating works best. I collect free pallet slips from big box stores , which are rather large cardboard sheets without tape or staples. However, old boxes that come through snail mail work great too! The cardboard does break down after a year, so this method does require either 1. re-mulching annually or 2. seeding with a living mulch/groundcover in late autumn that will grow beneath your willow (much easier, but messier/less conforming to landscaping cultural standards).
Start by laying your cardboard where you intend to plant. If using lots of smaller cardboard pieces, make sure they overlap each other at least 6-8″ when prepping your area for planting. Secure cardboard with wood chips or a few well-placed rocks/bricks so that it doesn’t blow away. If you intend to seed in autumn with a living mulch/ground cover, I find rocks/bricks work well. You can simply pick them up and remove the cardboard at the season’s end to reveal bare soil ready for seeding.
(Note that many willow growers utilize plastic landscape fabric instead of cardboard. This is certainly a tidy option too and may fit your gardening style better! Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for preparing your area and securing the plastic with staples/pins)
Step 3: Planting Your Willow
Willow is typically planted in rows. The standard planting distance is one foot apart between plants within a row, with two feet between rows.
To plant a cutting, begin by punching a hole through the weed barrier and into the soil. This is where I like to bust out the 1/2″ rebar. I place it on top of the cardboard, and pound with the hammer a few times until the rod is several inches into the soil.
It’s now time to plant your willow! Every provided willow cutting has a pointed end that will be inserted into the ground and a flat end that will face up toward the sky. It is very important that the pointed tip goes into the soil. The willow rod will not grow if it is inserted upside down. Place the cutting into the prepared hole *at least* 4 inches, but more is better!
That’s it! The willow will root over the oncoming weeks and being grow.
Step 4: Caring for Your Willow
From here, willow requires very little care. If the growing season is very dry, periodically watering your patch while it is establishing can help it along!