With spring and the warmer weather just around the corner, a gardener has come up with a crafty way of creating a “living green screen” fence – perfect as we prepare to spend more time at home outdoors.
Jess Gough, who regularly shares her horticultural tips on TikTok, revealed in a video how she made her living willow fence simply by pushing willow sticks into the ground. “Willow roots really easily so by the summer this fence will have come alive to create a green screen that will section up my garden,” she explained.
She then detailed the process, which began with her setting up a string line and a tape measure on the ground to ensure she could plant the sticks in a straight line and at equal intervals. “I then cut back my willow beds, selecting the longest sticks,” Jess continued, before recommending using sticks that are around 8ft long to create a fence that is 3ft in height.
“I pushed the first two sticks into the ground 1.1m apart, and wove the two ends together to create an arch,” Jess said of her method. “Sticks are pushed in so that about 25cm are below the soil surface.”
She added: “Then it was a case of making more interlocking arches to complete the fence, shifting them along them roughly 27cm each time and weaving any crossing sticks to hold them together.” And to create extra support at each end, Jess revealed that she “bashed in” tree stakes and ran a wire between them, tying the willow into the wire. “I’ll remove this after a couple of years,” she said.
Closing her clip, Jess revealed that she will keep the construction well-watered over the coming weeks to help the willow establish. “A mulch of compost or woodchip would also be a good idea, to help retain moisture and keep weeds down,” she said.
Responding to her creation, a fellow gardener quipped: “I mean the idea of a natural fence is nice, but blackberries have the edge to keep people outside and also you can eat them!”
A second person proposed an addition to the design: “I wonder if a couple of years after planting when the willow is stronger you can plant some species of roses next to the fence so they would intertwine. I think it would look magical.” Jess enthused: “That would be amazing!”
A third TikTok user suggested: “You can do this to make a willow tunnel as well you just need to use bigger willow sticks. There was one at my school and it was so cosy.”
Whilst a fourth asked Jess for clarification, commenting: “I’m sorry if I sound dumb, but I want to clarify that these are just sticks from a willow tree? We have a beautiful willow tree in our yard and I would love to try this!” The gardening expert explained: “They are willow sticks yes, but you need to choose the right kind of willow. A basket weaving variety of willow is ideal. We planted cuttings from Hendersons and grew for a year to plant the fence.”
Elsewhere, someone else chimed in with caution: “There was one at our house- every year it took two full days to cut it down, 5-6 metre growth every year. Don’t do it if you are not loving cutting things down all the time.”
