The year is waning fast. The days are not perceptibly longer, but there is a psychological value in knowing that they are indeed lengthening. Plus temps rose to about 60 degrees Fahrenheit today, so that helped with morale. Cold days are coming, but today the garden was basking in warm sunlight.
Warm winter days present a good opportunity to build structures in preparation for spring. Six hazel rods tied at the top with twine will make a living teepee when they are covered with cardinal vine next year.
I'm also experimenting with hazel to make a barrier for unruly black raspberries that have no sense of personal space.
Hazel is an incredibly easy shrub to grow, and is perfect for coppicing, or cutting off near ground level to encourage new shoots. I've removed over half of the above-ground plant material from the one in the photo, and will probably remove more, leaving the straightest shoots to grow for another year or two. It's common in coppicing to cut the entire plant down to stumps. It's said that this practice makes the tree or shrub more disease resistant and can extend its life for hundreds or even thousands of years, by keeping it in a perpetually juvenile state.
Pollarding is a related practice, but differs in that a trunk of 8 to 10 feet is allowed to grow. Picture the whomping willow from the Harry Potter movies and you will get the idea, though most pollarded trees are less aggressive.
It is said that over time these practices improve soil and sequester carbon underground. When above-ground plant matter is removed, there is a corresponding dieback of roots. This organic matter feeds detritivores, and generally enriches the subterranean ecosystem.
Since pruning of this type needs to be done while plants are dormant, these warm winter days are the perfect time for the task. Winter might seem to stretch interminably ahead of us, but this is an illusion. There is a finite number of days to prepare for the explosion that is spring, and I try to take full advantage of them.
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