Before getting down to calculations, you will need to think about exactly what it is you want from your willow project.

Screening can be done as a single row of planted willow for a thin screen allowing through some dappled light or as a double row for a thick screen with greater privacy. For strong windbreaks even a triple row of planting can be done.

Planting longer willow whips gives immediate height to a screen, planting shorter setts takes longer to get to height but gives thicker, bushy growth right from ground level.

For a more decorative project, a woven willow hedge can be created. Design your own or view our ready-made Living Woven Hedge Kits here.

If you are building a structure you need to decide the finished dimensions of the structure you want so can order the correct height of Whip. Remember that 30cm of the whips will disappear into the ground for planting.

You can of course save yourself the hassle of doing all these pesky calculations. We supply ready-made Kits for Screening, Woven Fences and a range of Living Structures for building. These come with all the Willow and accessories you need plus full step-by-step instructions. All priced reasonably to reflect what it would cost if you bought all the components separately. Click here to see our full Living Willow range.

For Screening and Hedging: Our recommended plant spacing is 30cm/1ft. To work out how much willow you need to can simply take the total length of the space to be planted in metres and multiply it by 3.3.

Example: 10 metre screen, 10 x 3.3 = 33 Whips. If you want a double row you can double this figure to 66.

For Imperial measurements its very simple indeed! Example: 20ft screen = 20 Whips! Double to 40 Whips for a thicker screen

Living Willow Structures are a more personal project which will need to suit your individual planting site and requirments. We supply a range of ready-made Kits you can View Here including Domes, Tunnels & Wigwams.

Some general tips would be to work out the height and width you want for the structure so you can make sure you're ordering long enough whips. Remember that 30cm of the whip will be lost into the ground when planted so order whips longer than the height of structure you want.

Willow is a versitile plant so you can plant the whips as close or as far apart as you need to.

A point worth noting is that the sap in the whips cannot run if the whip is horizontal or pointed downwards. If you need to create an arch you'll need two whips tied together at the top.

Willow is used as a fast growing crop for both wood logs and as chipped biomass. Plant now and you could be burning your own logs in 2-3 years and have an annual supply from then on.

Quantites and plant spacing differ greatly depending on what type of fuel you're looking to produce. Growing willow for logs requires a larger spacing to allow the plants to grow bigger. Growing for chipped fuel requires less space.

We have more information on growing willow as a fuel crop in our Growing Your Own Firewood section here.