socalledunitedstates:biodiverseed:7 USES FOR PRUNED WOODDemonstrated on Viburnum × bodnantense, a wi
socalledunitedstates:biodiverseed:7 USES FOR PRUNED WOODDemonstrated on Viburnum × bodnantense, a winter-blooming shrubI am in the process of debulking an overgrown Dawn Viburnum: in my zone (8), this beautiful plant produces clusters of pink blossoms as early as December, and flowers right through to February: it provides good forage for non-honeybee pollinators that fly in colder weather. The plant itself is also a great habitat for birds.Whenever I am doing maintenance on an older shrub like this, it produces a tonne of biomass, so today, I’m going to go over what I do with all of the wood.Use #1: New Plant PropagationIf you saw my post about ground layering, you will remember that shrubs often grow adventitious roots when they come into contact with soil. This Viburnum shrub has been collecting leaf fall in its crown for over a decade, which has decomposed into soil, into which numerous limbs have rooted well-above the grade. By pruning these limbs below root tissue, I can use them as cuttings to propagate new stands of this patch-forming plant. They are much larger than most cuttings I take: already almost the height of a grown plant.Uses #2-7: TimberUse #2: Kindling and FirewoodI try to avoid burning too much firewood for environmental reasons, but we do have a wood burning stove and a firepit, with which we heat and cook (respectively) on occasion. I also use ash and biochar as a soil amendment.In any case, it’s good to have a decent stack of firewood around. If you ever have to depend on firewood alone for heating or cooking, it is used up more quickly than you would believe. Firewood also has to dry out before it can be used, so keeping a supply of cured wood on hand is important.Use #3: HügelkulturI used a significant portion of the prunings from today to continue one of my hügelkutur berms: this is the rounded berm (~10 metres long x ~0.5 metres high x ~0.75 metres wide) that is accompanied by a swale.I have used wood from numerous trees, especially the pollarded apple, in order to add bulk to this structure, but the smaller sticks are especially useful, as they can fill gaps between logs. There are nmany benefits to soil building with wood: especially when it comes to mycelial growth (which nourishes bees), and landscape water retention (the rotting wood is like a sponge that wicks up and retains moisture). These mounds also provide elevation, drainage, a warmer microclimate, and superior root penetration for some of my more ‘Mediterranean’ trees and shrubs.Use #4: WattleWattle is one of my favourite building techniques in the garden, because it is both free and easy. Raised beds, retaining walls, and fences, can easily be built using this simple technique of weaving long pliable limbs between, stout, sturdy stakes. I grow plants like willow (Salix sp.) and dogwood (Cornus sp.) in order to coppice new shoots for this purpose, but several of the prunings from the Viburnum also turned out to be decent wattle material.Use #5: Planting Stakes and SupportsAs noted in my post on sculpting trees: any sturdy, straight, and sufficiently long limb is pruned and trimmed into a support for other plants. Above, I’ve used hazelnut (Corylus sp.) limbs to straighten out my young elderberry trees.Come tomato and pepper season, I won’t be able to find enough of these supports, and I am loathe to pay for bamboo stakes and tomato cages when I have free timber in abundance. Use #6: ArtInteresting timber features like knots, crazy shapes, or natural grafts can be used for all sorts of decorative woodworking projects. One of these prunings from today has the form of a decent hiking stick, so depending on how the wood holds up, I may sand and varnish it.Use #7: Mulch Any part of the shrub can be used as what is called a “chop and drop” mulch. as in, it can be left ‘as-is’ in the landscape to decompose and form biodiverse habitats for wood-dwelling organisms (like certain bee species, and beetles). However, if you have access to a wood-chipper, they can also be made into a wood chip mulch, which has untold benefits for soil fertility, mycelial growth, water retention, and weed suppression.I cover all my growing spaces with a mulch of some sort (aside from a desert, nature doesn’t have much bare soil). A wood chip mulch is good for high-traffic areas where long-term weed-suppression is ideal. I stack up a bunch of prunings, and rent a wood-chipper once a year in order to make my own chip mulch: it’s much cheaper than buying it, and I return all the resources I have grown to the soil.There are innumerable uses for what is normally discarded as “waste” in the garden: these are just a few ways in which resources from pruning can be directed back into a productive and healthy growing space.Related: #edible forest gardening 101#forest gardening #garden hacks #permaculture #pruning #mulchIf you’re going to burn prunings you should do it in a rocket stove! It’s designed to burn much more efficiently than an open fire, meaning your kindling burns longer and hotter and with less smoke to boot. You can even make one out of cinder blocks, or a small one for camping with old cans! -- source link