Making Willow Hurdles for Garden and Yard

By Encouraging Hedgerows for Wildlife and Shelter
Comments 35
28 Jul 2026

Making Willow Hurdles for Garden and Yard

Why willow hurdles earn their place on a smallholding

A well-made willow hurdle is one of those quiet bits of kit that solves a dozen problems at once. It will break the wind for a row of peas, screen a compost heap, keep straw out of a muddy gateway or give a clutter of hand tools somewhere to lean in the barn. Woven from coppiced rods, hurdles are renewable, repairable and handsome in a way that plastic mesh never manages. They last five to ten years if kept off wet ground, and longer under cover. Once you have a jig set up, a winter afternoon will produce a panel you can use straight away or stack for later.

Choosing and cutting your willow

The best rods come from willows grown for coppice: common osier, purple willow and almond willow all weave well. Cut them after leaf fall and before the sap rises, roughly November to late February. Choose rods that are straight, free from side shoots and between 1.2 and 2.4 metres long. The butt should be 8–15 mm across; thinner rods are ideal for fine work, thicker ones for the frame. Cut close to the stool with a sharp billhook or loppers, leaving a clean wound. Bundle by length and tie with twine.

If you are buying in dried rods, soak them for seven to fourteen days in a trough, then drain and mellow them for two or three days wrapped in damp cloth. They should feel pliable as leather and bend without cracking. Freshly cut rods can be woven straight away, though they may shrink a little as they dry.

Tools and a simple weaving jig

You do not need a workshop full of kit. A sharp billhook, secateurs, loppers, a wooden mallet, a tape measure, gloves and a ball of tarred twine will see you through. The one piece worth making is a jig. Take two stout boards about 1.5 metres long and drill holes at 15–20 cm intervals. Push the upright rods, or sails, into the holes so they stand parallel. For a hurdle 1.8 metres wide and 90 cm high, use nine to eleven sails. A pair of upright posts driven into the ground works just as well if you are weaving outdoors.

Weaving the panel step by step

Set the sails in the jig with the thicker butts at the bottom. Soak them too, so they bend rather than snap. Begin at the base with a pairing weave: take two rods, one in each hand, and twist them around the first sail so they cross between each upright. Work along the row, keeping the rods tight and tapping each pass down with the mallet. When a rod runs out, lay in a new one with a 15 cm overlap, tapering the ends so the join stays flat.

After two or three pairing rows, switch to a single waling weave, passing one rod in front of and behind each sail in turn. Alternate the direction of travel on each row to keep the panel square. Aim for twelve to sixteen rows on a 90 cm hurdle. Finish with a thicker capping rod woven along the top, then trim the sail ends to 2–3 cm. Bind the top and bottom corners with twine if the hurdle will be moved often.

Finishing, drying and aftercare

Lift the hurdle from the jig and trim any stray rod ends with secateurs. Dry it slowly in an airy shed or barn, out of direct sun, for four to six weeks. Do not force the drying with heat, or the willow will become brittle. As the rods shrink, the weave may loosen; a few sharp taps with the mallet will tighten it again. There is no need for chemical preservatives. The enemy is ground contact and trapped damp, so stand hurdles on paving slabs, gravel or timber feet. Inspect them once a year and weave in a fresh rod wherever a break appears. A hurdle used as a compost bay will last longer if lined with cardboard to keep the wet waste off the willow.

Practical uses around garden, yard and barn

Hurdles are endlessly adaptable. Use them as a windbreak around a veg patch, a shade screen for a cold frame, or a support for climbing beans and peas. In the yard, they will divide a muddy gateway, screen a fuel store or make a tidy bin for leaf mould. In the barn, lean a hurdle against the wall as a tool rack, lay one across beams as a drying rack for onions and herbs, or tie two together as a temporary pen for lambs or poultry. A 1.8 m by 90 cm panel weighs roughly 8–12 kg, so one person can carry it and two can move a run of them in minutes. Tie them to posts with tarred twine rather than nails, and they will come up cleanly when you want to rearrange the yard. Teaching a young helper to weave is a rural skill worth passing on, and the hurdles you make together will outlast the afternoon's work by many seasons.

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5 Comments

Robert Sonny says Jul 21, 2024 at 10:00am

I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system
Reply
- John Abraham says Jul 21, 2024 at 10:00am
  
  I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system
  Reply
  - Robert Sonnysays Jul 21, 2024 at 10:00am
    
    I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system
    Reply
Robert Sonny says Jul 21, 2024 at 10:00am

I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system
Reply

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