Coppicing

It became apparent that I would need sturdier branches if my fence around the potager is to resist the unwelcome attentions of both Josette's goats and Christine's puppy 'Chippie'. The most obvious solution was to coppice one of the neglected and overgrown hazel bushes that are prevalent around Pissou and to use branches from that to reinforce my rather rickety fencing efforts. So this morning, with Andy chainsawing and me sorting and lopping, we made quick work of the bush and soon had enough sections of the right diameter to adequately shore up the fence.... I think! There is also plenty of wood left over that we can store for use on the woodburner next winter, which is a bonus. Other work today has involved digging wood ash into the potager soil in an attempt to lighten it, digging over both the ground where the summer gourds and squashes are going to be planted and the area just up from the house where I am probably now going to plant the carrots. The fine weather (into the 20s again today) is set to continue into next week - Spring really has arrived!