Interactive lesson

Basket weaving, step by step

Interactive lesson: from your own willow bed to a round basket — cutting and soaking rods, the base, stakes, sides, border and a roped handle.

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The whole lesson as text

1. Your own willow bed

A willow bed of 20–50 m² on a damp corner of the holding gives rods for a lifetime.

Where to plant — Along a ditch or at the bottom of the plot where water lies, but no closer than 10–15 m (35–50 ft) to the house, well and pipes: willow roots get into pipes.
Cuttings — In February or March cut one-year rods as thick as a pencil into lengths of 20–25 cm. Top cut slanted, bottom cut straight.
Planting through membrane — Push each cutting through black membrane almost all the way into the soil, 2–3 cm showing. Spacing 30–40 cm in the row, 60–75 cm between rows.
First winter, to the stool — In the first winter cut all rods to 5–10 cm above the ground. From the second or third winter the rods are good for weaving.

Why: Willow is cut to the stool every winter, and the same year it sends up 10–30 new rods. From the third year it gives roughly 0.3–0.5 kg of dry rods per m² a year.

Plant at least two kinds of willow, e.g. purple osier and almond willow: different colours and thicknesses make more attractive baskets.
Willow that fights grass gives thin, branched rods. In the first year water in drought and keep it weed-free.

2. Cutting and drying

Rods are cut in winter, sorted by length and dried under a roof.

Cut in winter — From leaf fall until the sap rises (November–March), on a dry day without frost, with secateurs, a slanting cut close to the stool.
Only good rods — One-year, straight rods without side branches. Branches and crooked rods go into fencing, kindling or compost.
Sort by length — Bundles 30 cm apart: 60–90, 90–120, 120–150 and over 150 cm. Stand the rods in a tall bin, butt end down, and pull out the longest ones in turn.
Dry upright — Under a roof, in a draught, for 6–10 weeks. Green rods can be woven straight away, but the basket then dries and loosens 5–10 %.

Why: Rods cut in summer, in leaf, break and rot. Well-dried rods keep for 5–10 years.

Cut along streams and on other people's land only with the landowner's permission; on protected sites (SSSIs, special areas of conservation) consent from Natural England, NatureScot, NRW or NPWS; on public land in the US and Canada, a permit from the land manager.
Willow scrub and wet ground are tick country: wear long trousers and check your skin afterwards.