Home | How It Works | Ideas | Calendar | Newsletter | Contact Hodgson Biologic Calendar Upcoming Events 5/24 Growing Edibles / Small Gardens 5/31 Weed I.D. and Control 6/7 Shade Gardening Hodgson Biologic 2 Klarides Village Drive Box 205 Seymour, Connecticut 06483 203-888-3898 In Connecticut's Naugatuck Valley February, 2009 Show Full Year Event: Coppice and Pollard Date: February 12th, 2009. Category: Ideas A forestry practice from the British Isles (and, probably, other parts of the world) is coppice. It is cutting a relatively young tree low to the ground so that it will produce side shoots. There are many good articles on coppice, so I won't rewrite the book on it here. Pollards are similar, being cut somewhere around 6 feet tall. The reason I bring it up now is that now is the time of year to do this. I have had a number of trees cut, and I am going to let the side shoots come up. The shoots form a more shrubby layer, good cover for birds. The first and second year, I will have material for baskets, mats and mini-trellises for planters. How about a dream catcher? After a few more years, I will have slender poles, light fence posts, material for bent wood structures, handles and stakes. A few more years down the road and I will have firewood and material for heavier posts, furniture and bent wood structures. And I can harvest it, including the firewood, with clippers or a hand saw. I won't have to hire someone with heavy equipment and a stronger back to harvest the wood. I can grow it to the size I want, and take what I need. If you have some trees on your property, perhaps you would like to try this practice. Most of us have noticed the side shoots coming from a cut tree stump. Many trees do this. Harness the inevitable! Work with biology. Be creative. February, 2009 Show Full Year

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