Chris Potts wrote in message
...
Hello all,

We have quite a big garden and at this time of year we thin our trees
and collect quite a lot of branches. The bits that are under about 2.5
inches diameter go through the muncher and go on the compost heap or
used on paths, but that leaves us with lots of lengths up to say eight
feet long and up to six inches in diameter. Has any one any idea what
we could use these bits of wood for? In the past we have put them round
our boundary to rot down and provide food for invertebrates and the
thicker ones are dotted about in "artistic" heaps, and some are used as
edging for paths, but this year we have a great surplus and we would
like to do something creative.

Thanks you,

All the best,

Chris and Mavis Potts

Hi Chris and Mavis,

I do envy you this bounty. I am gradually building up a stack of dead wood
from trees and shrubs in my garden. Although I have a woodpile, I would
really love to make a 'creature tower'. I suppose this is a more
perpendicular form of your heap for invertebrates, but skillfully done, it
could make a very interesting feature in a wild or woodland garden. It
could incorporate a hedgehog house at the base, various
bee/ladybird/lacewing shelters on the way up, and a bird feeder or table at
or near the top. At its most basic, it would be an over-stuffed wigwam
arrangement, but for someone with d-i-y- skills a rustic tower or folly
could be built. I would like to start mine off with a low drystone wall
rotunda base, to defer rotting of the structural timbers. After that, I'll
just enjoy giving reign to my imagination, adding woven bird roosts and lawn
moss for nesting birds.

I know you could burn it for fuel, but that would only add to pollution
levels. Perhaps a creature tower is the very sort of creative 'something'
you had in mind?

Spider