My hazel's been doing its stuff for weeks now, the catkins a welcome flutter of quick movement in a static landscape.
Hazel is a native of the British Isles but, according to a tree-loving friend of mine, is under threat because we're just too kind to it. Hazel's been used by man for thousands of years providing fuel, material for building hurdles, gates and baskets, and latterly plant supports in the garden and allotment. But hazel likes a bit of rough and that's where the problem lies.
Traditionally it's been used productively by coppicing – a process of cutting the stems back down to ground level every seven or eight years so that it produces a swathe of new and perfectly straight poles. Up until the industrial revolution all woodlands would have contained hazel coppices, managed by local people. But as we lost the art of using natural products the woods were left to romp and now the bigger more vigorous trees such as oak, lime and beech crowd out the modest hazel, leaving it to grow woody, split and die back.
There are people still practising the art of traditional coppicing, but until we start demanding more of their products, then there will be no market. So save the native hazel: think about a woven hazel fence, or a living hazel hedge, when planning boundaries. Join the British Beanpole Campaign (National Beanpole Week kicks off today) and use locally sourced beanpoles instead of imported bamboo from China for your plant supports. Or do what many allotment societies are doing around the country and plant your own coppice. You can buy them from the Woodland Trust and plant them in a good sized space in open ground. Cut back, or coppice, to ground level every seven years or so – it looks cruel but the tough old hazel loves it. Catkins in spring, a ready supply of free straight, malleable sticks for crafting into whatever you like and if you leave some to just get on with it, fresh hazel nuts in September.
