Where to start growing on a plot of land...

[greenthumbbeginner]

Not sure what variety of willow you have but we had a willow hedge a few years back. The stems ended up about 15 cm in diameter and they grew massively high….20 feet-ish. We ended up having to cut them down to ground level every other year and take the bits to the tip. Any little piece left on the ground re- rooted.
They actually became a menace, so much so we ended up having to poison them. I won’t use poisons - ever- normally , but they were something else…
I guess it depends on the variety as to height etc. But do be aware.

Our daughter lives on a farm and she planted 4or5 rows of the type used for basket weaving , firstly as privacy from the road but also to take up excessive underground water . They don’t get as high, and people are more than willing to come and cut them in exchange for taking away the branches.

Anyway….just a word of caution

Well I did get them for screening initially as the land is very exposed from the road since the existing hedge is mostly none existent. There are gaps of metres in some places with no real boundary from the road and land.

I bought 200 of what sounds like the same ones your daughter got, salix viminalis, or common osier. I chose due to being the fastest growing as I wanted the screening asap. I have since read these grow to more modest size and are sometimes referred to as shrubs for that reason.

I took cuttings from ones in the bits of existing hedge too as well as the mature one on the field. That mature one is quite a big boy. Probably about 6 meters wide and maybe 10m high. That is the one that has lots of leaf mould I mentioned.

I also read though if they are spaced closer together then they won't grow as much since they are in competition with each other so that could be beneficial if wanting mainly for screening.

I am sure they grow fast but I doubt faster than you could manage them? I could make good use of the product for hurdles or walls if they were logs, lots of stuff so I could not imagine having more wood than I could make use of. Could also use for firewood in the colder months if that much spare.

I have the opposite problem at the moment of very little raw material to make stuff. There is a small cops of wood on the field but I like that for a little privacy and just to go in there so don't want to cut it down. I think a lot of them are oak from what I have been told, but young ones so look nothing like mature ones, which is why I did not identify them as such myself.

[greenthumbbeginner]

A really good online resource to find out about grafting terminology has been provided by Stephen Hayes on YouTube - it's how I learnt most of what I know.

My grafted trees started producing in their third year - not up to full production after ~6 years but that's probably because I didn't prepare the ground properly for them; my "soil" is very, very clay and there is a solid bed of (brickmaking quality) clay ~25cm down. So I wouldn't let that put you off; there's no need to just plant self-grafted trees. For popular varieties (the ones you can buy in a supermarket) I would buy commercially grown trees, and fill in with ones I'd produced myself.

The big advantages (other than cost) of producing your own are that you have a lot more choice over the rootstock (I don't think I've seen more than 4 or 5 different ones from commercial growers, and there are probably 20 or 30 available - at least one for pretty much every type of growing condition) and you can choose the varieties of apple that you want to grow (Cox is wonderful, but have you tried a Norfolk Royal Russet or a Telstar?

That sounds a little involved for me right now considering everything else I have to do with the land both prepping and growing. Only so many hours in the day.

[Nicos]

^^^ certainly worth thinking about in years to come!

I have an acre of land. One of the fence lines was barbed wire to keep cattle out and I’ve allowed wild brambles to grow the whole length creating a hedge line for birds and insects. The amount of birds etc se see on there in the autumn eating the berries is so rewarding. They also nest in there.
It does need cutting back and topping every couple of years with hedge trimmers . It’s something I’m really, really pleased we did.

Apart from setting aside a large area for potagers we allow the lush cow grass ( we’re in Normandy) to grow over the rest of it inter dispersed with hazel trees, oak trees etc for the future. I wish we’d planted more fruiting/ nut trees tbh , but we’ve already got more than we can eat/ give away.

We cut walkways about 10 feet wide through the long grass ( plenty enough to drive through with a trailer if needed) and allow wild flowers etc to push through the long grass. Marshmallow…that sort of thing.
We have a table, bench, firepit for cooking in the sunniest area. Watching the hover flies, butterfliesdragonflies, moths etc is such a bonus.

We have a hare which each year comes and helps itself to our two large areas of strawberries and I’m sure the long grass is where the leverets hide.
We cut the long grass with a topper in the winter.

I hope you will get as much pleasure from your area of nature as we do. I’m sure you will

[rary]

I my 25 year-old James Grieve gave me more than all the others put together. Age isn't everything...

I so agree with that statement😁😁