That's the Irish name for Willow. You say it like the female name: "Sally" or "Salix" it's latin name. Last winter I planted twenty willow slip prunings in a area of the veg plot.
Yesterday I dug them up and was pleased to see they are budding and have struck roots.
Willow has many uses both practical and for medicines like Aspirin. It tolerates the wettest of ground and is good for a windbreak and natural habitat for Birds.
I am going to use my free hedging for a windbreak to protect the polytunnel and fill in any hedge gaps. willow is deciduous in winter but its fan like branches still filter the wind by sixty percent.
I will cut some more willow slips with my loppers and plant them in a vacant area of the veg plot to make more free hedging. Do you make ("grow") your own hedging or trees? I grow Buddleia, Cornus or Dogwood, Griselinia and willow and Hypericum and Hebes...
Here is a song to go with today's post by Jethro Tull. Not the inventor of the seed drill but the Blackpool Prog band from Lancashire who I have seen five times. I have also seen the Martin Barre Band. Enjoy:
When it comes to gardening, I am not as resourceful nor as enthusiastic as you are Dave. My answer to today's question is therefore "No". Like you, I must have seen Jethro Tull five times. What a frontman Ian Anderson was! And they made such a unique sound. They were not following the flock.
ReplyDeleteTull were a great band once YP. Albums like Songs From The Woods are classics. Gardening occupies me in the quiet countryside by the sea.
DeleteOne bad thing about willow is that its roots seek water. It disrupts a lot of drainage in tile pipes, growing right into the joints and entering the pipe. We have Roto Rooter here that does a good business of running their spinning blades through the piping to chop out the roots and enable water to flow freely. Is that an issue for you there?
ReplyDeleteWillow is fine Debby if you don't plant it near buildings. I made a dowsing willow rod and found our latest well with it. It has many uses willow.
DeleteThey will make a wonderful windbreak. Have you thought of using fruit or nut trees also as a windbreak? Perhaps they wouldn't work, but if they did you could be picking your own walnuts or hazelnuts one day.
ReplyDeleteThanks River. I don't have much with fruit trees. The blossom on my apple trees always blows off in a gale. We live overlooking a bay which brings us a lot of rain and wind from America.
ReplyDeleteDown by the Sally Gardens....
ReplyDeleteWilliam Butler Yeats? I visited his grave in Sligo last year GZ. "Sally Pride Of Our Alley" - Gracie Fields is another song.
ReplyDelete