PEP BB greywillow.sand.fivetrees - Plant Five "Poop Beast" Trees

Got some willow cuttings from the river. Noticed there was a run off problem at the sink at the willow bank so I decided to make it into an opportunity for these willows. I had them in a water vessel overnight cause I couldn't get them planted right away so here's hoping! I planted some others around the hugels as well...

Sticking cuttings of two varieties of basket willows alongside my big hugel project. This will get extended in the future. I had planned to get more in this Spring but so it goes...

To show you've completed this Badge Bit, you must provide:
- a picture of the seeds, cuttings and/or transplants that you are planting
- a picture of you planting the seeds/transplants/cuttings
- a picture of the transplanted trees, or a clear label for the spot with the seeds

I pulled some young clones from my big stand of Populus tremuloides and planted them a couple hundred feet down the trail around the "level 1 pee spot" I created a few years ago.

It’s spring break here so the kiddos and I took a walk around our local lake to explore and enjoy the warm weather! Along the way I found tons of new willow growth so I took about a dozen cuttings and brought them home.
I kept them in a jar of water till the next day and then planted them right into the grass in my backyard.

To complete this BB, the minimum requirements are:
 - plant five poop beasts
    - willow, cottonwood or poplar (Populus genus)
    - must be planted somewhere where they will get enough water
    - since these do not have a taproot, you can transplant, stick cuttings or plant seed

To show you've completed this Badge Bit, you must provide:
- a picture of the seeds, cuttings and/or transplants that you are planting
- a picture of you planting the seeds/transplants/cuttings
- a picture of the transplanted trees, or a clear label for the spot with the seeds
- OR a 2-minute video of you doing the above

I took cuttings of one of my willow trees this winter and soaked them in water until they started sprouting roots. I dug a couple of trenches , poked some holes in the trenches, and plopped the cuttings in. My goal was to make some natural fences and this was my first experiment with that. About half of them are doing really well and I now know how much water I need to make this work. Hopefully next year one of these fences will provide some great shade for the chickens.

Here I am collecting cuttings. And trimming the tree to keep it away from the road.


First trench. I thought this would be a good spot because it floods here in the spring after the snow melts. This year was an abnormal year, however, and we did not get any snowmelt so I had to water it with a hose. I mulched it heavily to keep the moisture in but I still did not manage to water it enough and now it is fall and these trees are not doing so great.


Here I am poking holes in the ground with some junk I found laying around. These pipes were crumpling pretty badly so I bought a small piece of rebar for the next trench and that was a much better experience.


Here is the first trench all planted.


The second trench I planted on the south border of the chicken run. I thought this would be a good place to collect water because I built a small duck pond right where the kiddie pool is in the picture and while I was building it I ended up draining and re-filling it a lot to keep it clean since I did not have a filtration system established yet. So all of the water from that project was perfect for establishing willow trees. I tried planting other things here but this is a very windy spot and not a lot of seeds or mulch stayed in place and the mound did not stay watered for any decent length of time so I need to do a bit more experimenting.


Here is the trench all dug with the cuttings ready to go in.


The water from dumping the kiddie pool was enough to fill the entire trench. And the poop in the pool is perfect for the willows.


Here is the trench 6 months later. Almost all of the willow trees are going strong and there is a lot of vegetation growing in the trench so it's kind of hard to see them in the picture.