The nuttery

The coppiced hazel is used throughout the garden to make various types of plant supports for beans, sweetpeas, arches,fences and small hurdles for the front of the herbaceous borders. We use 2-3 year-old wood so we coppice roughly one third of our hazel crowns every January/February. We tend to use a strong pair of ratchet loppers to cut the material back to within 2-3 inches of the crown. The traditional billhook is fine but not as easy or as clean as the loppers

Making A Simple Hazel fence

Unlike the superb heavy duty wattle fences, we tend to make a simplified fence out of two year old wood. The thicker 10-12mm wood is used first at the bottom to tie in the uprights, about 3 is sufficient. Then we weave the smaller material in 3 at a time. As you go up every 2 inches just tap the weave down with a thick piece of wood...this will keep a nice tight fence. All the hazel gets used, nothing is wasted. Just before you achieve the final height, weave in 3 or 4 thicker pieces again to secure a nice tight fitting fence. The following photos show how we achieve this.

Collecting and sorting the Hazel

Start the weave with 3 pieces of stronger material

Continue by weaving in the thinner pieces 3 at a time

Trim off the branches as you go

Finish the fence with 3 stronger branches

Trim the Upright stakes to leave a finished fence

After 1 season

This fence will last about 3 years. Then you will start the build again from your renewable source of hazel.