At a Euro a pot I really got my money's worth.

We togged up warm and set off to the back of the allotment after breakfast and a chat to my mate Flicki on Skype, to do a prune on the willow trees. We have grown these willows from the pruned twigs from the original willow we bought at Montbourge two years ago. These little treasures are now as tall as Mike and today was the day for their cut and blow dry and for two of them, the prep for a move. The French have a very radical approach to pruning, copsing and pollarding and the golden rule is to cut the tree to within an inch of it's life then use all the cuttings in the wood burner. Mike and I have looked in utter horror at the stumps left after a major cut and have been equally amazed at their recovery, so here we go........to about three inches of their lives because we just don't have the courage to go the whole hog. We kept two large branches and replanted them in the hedge to start replenishing with something a little prettier, I will mark the twiggs tomorrow so we remember where they are to cultivate and nurture. We planted 20 fast growing pot bound conifers when we moved in three years ago and then replanted 10 of them because they were just not behaving and were in the way for mowing. During the second replant we teased out the roots and now they have their feet in the ground we have noticed that they are developing an expensive prostrate growth pattern so at a Euro a pot I really got my money's worth.