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| Irette sprouting pink pussy willows, gold catkins and tiny white leaves. |
Last year, we started planting March 17. This year, we were out there in mid-February and we are still racing the weather. It will get cold again, I think, but either way, the time is now to harvest and replant.
This is the first year we have more rods than we need for cuttings. If this were another kind of operation - younger owners, more equipment, more money to invest - we’d be planting up as many cuttings as we have available. But since we are just adding about 60 new plants per variety, we need to learn what to do with the balance of available rods.
Our two most prolific varieties that are mainly for landscape use, Miyabeana and Rubykins, are slated to be used for living willow fencing and a dome. The Rubykins is now sitting in water, waiting a bit til we can work on those structures. Both are showing catkins and buds.
In the meantime, Irette has catkined out and tiny white leaf buds are showing up at the tips. There are some long stocky rods that we might use for living willow, but the largest number of Irette rods are 4-5’ and very slender. These, I’m going to dry for basketry. And hope I’m doing it right.
There’s a big gap in my research on willow growing and that’s in the subject of drying the willow. Not many growers talk about it, I guess because that info comes in the preparation for weaving. But I have so many questions -
- Laying down or standing up?
- Bundled or loose?
- In an open carport or shed or in a closed storage room with some ventilation?
- Why do growers stack their willow outside when, for sure, the willow will get rained on? Does it matter?
- How long do they need to dry?
- How do you tell when they are dry enough to use?
And more questions:
- Do the catkins dry and drop off?
- What about the leaf buds - do they shrink or sluff off?
- Or do those ruin the rod for baskets?
- What is the optimum basketry length and diameter?
- Does it make sense to store different age groups of the same variety together or is the age of the plant significant in choosing for baskets?
Oh, I can come up with many more questions, but I have kind of a complex about not waiting to learn basketry first before growing willow. Clearly, taking lessons with an established grower makes sense, but here we are in spring and I have willow to store and I just don’t know how best to do that! I would love to hear suggestions!
On another subject, look at our new planting tool!!! I found an ironworker/blacksmith over in Tryon, NC who looked at my sketches and said ‘sure!’ We got two of them, about $100 each, and they work like a charm! The bottom crossbar is for stepping on, the top 2 crossbars are for pulling it out and the handles are for positioning. 10" spikes. Not too heavy for us old ladies, strong enough to make thousands of holes and so easy to use. I can’t thank Saluda Forge and Bill Crowell enough for coming up with the exact right tool for the job!
It’s a summer-like week this week and we’ve only just made a dent in harvesting. Our backs are already complaining, but we are determined. Give me a couple of weeks and see where we are then.