Oliver Pemberton
Why weave your own willow support
A good plant support should disappear into the planting, and willow is the finest material for the job. It is flexible when soaked, stiff when dry, and it weathers to a soft grey that sits happily among foliage. You can make a frame in an afternoon, it costs nothing if you have a few rods to hand, and at the end of its life it goes on the compost heap rather than into the bin.
Climbing beans, sweet peas, mangetout and even a floppy clump of nasturtiums will all take to a willow obelisk. Best of all, when the season is over you can pull it up and burn the lot, disease and all, which is more than can be said for a plastic wigwam.
Choosing and soaking your rods
Any willow will do, but the long, whippy rods sold as brown willow or withies are the traditional choice. If you or a neighbour grow a willow patch, cut rods in winter when the sap is down and the stems are bare. Stored dry in a shed, they will keep for a year or more.
Dry willow has to be re-soaked before you can bend it. Lay the rods in a water butt, a cattle trough or a length of gutter, and weight them down so they stay submerged.
- Brown willow: soak for five to ten days.
- Buff willow: a couple of hours will usually do, as the bark has already been stripped.
- Freshly cut green willow: no soaking needed at all — use it the same week.
Test a rod before you begin. Bend it into a curve the size of a dinner plate. It should flex smoothly and return partway. If it cracks or creaks, put it back in the water for another day or two. Mellow rods are a joy; brittle ones will have you swearing into your tea.
Making the circular base
Start with the ring that will sit on the soil. Take two of your longest, thickest rods and lay them side by side, pointing in opposite directions. Bend them together into a loop roughly 60cm across for a standard obelisk — you can go wider for a big bean frame.
Where the rods overlap at the join, twist the ends around one another for two or three turns to lock the circle. Tuck any loose end inside the ring so it cannot poke out and snag you. If your rods are short, join four thinner ones instead, working round in the same way.
Set the ring down on the ground where the support is going. This is easier on a lawn or a flat path than in a crowded bed, so have a clear patch ready.
Setting in the uprights
Now push the upright rods into the ground around the inside of the ring, spacing them 15–20cm apart. For a 60cm circle you will want eight to ten uprights. Push each one down a good 15cm so it is firm, and lean them very slightly inwards as you go, so the whole thing tapers like a cone.
Leave the tops long for now. They will be trimmed once the weaving is finished, and trimming is far easier at the end than trying to guess a tidy height at the start. Aim for a final height of around 1.5 metres for beans, a little shorter for sweet peas.
Weaving the sides
This is the satisfying part. Take a long, supple weaving rod and tuck its thin end in beside one of the uprights, at the base of the ring. Then simply weave it in and out: in front of one upright, behind the next, in front of the one after that, all the way round.
Push each pass down firmly against the one below, keeping the rows tight and level. When you reach the end of a rod, do not tie it off — just tuck the tail inside the frame and start a new rod where the old one finished, hiding the join behind an upright. Work upwards in a gentle spiral, adding rows every 20–25cm.
- Weave in the same direction each time so the pattern stays even.
- Alternate the starting point so the frame does not lean.
- Keep the tension firm but not brutal — willow snaps if you force it.
- Three or four weaving rods are plenty for a small obelisk.
Stop weaving about 20cm below the tops of the uprights, then finish with a final tight ring to hold everything true.
Securing the ends and finishing off
To close the top, gather the uprights together and bind them with a short length of soaked willow, winding it round and round and tucking the end under itself. A metre of jute twine works just as well if your fingers are cold and your patience is thin. Do not pull the tops into a single point; leave them slightly open so the frame looks relaxed rather than trussed.
Snip the uprights to a consistent height with sharp secateurs, cutting just above a bud at a slight angle so rain runs off. Stand back and check the whole thing is upright — a gentle nudge with a boot usually settles it.
Plant your beans or sweet peas at the base of each upright, one seed or seedling per rod, and water them in well. Keep the frame weeded and the soil mulched, and the willow will quietly do its job all summer. Left outdoors it will last two or three seasons before it turns brittle, at which point it makes a fine handful of kindling and you can weave yourself a fresh one.
