Why Hazel Makes the Finest Plant Supports

Hazel has been cut and woven in Britain for longer than most of our gardens have existed. Coppiced stools — trees cut back to a stump and allowed to throw up fresh stems — produce rods that are straight, flexible and remarkably strong for their weight. A well-grown hazel rod will bend without snapping, hold its shape once dried, and last three to five seasons in the ground before it finally softens and rots.

Compare that with a bamboo cane, which gleams in the border and canes you in the shins, or a plastic-coated hoop that snaps in the first hard frost. Hazel sits in the planting as though it belongs there. It weathers to a soft grey-brown, blends with foliage, and gives peas and beans something with a bit of grip to climb. If you have access to a hedge, a woodland edge or a friendly neighbour with a neglected coppice, you have a free supply of the best plant supports in the country.

Cutting in Winter, While the Sap Is Down

The traditional coppicing window runs from late November to early March, while the tree is dormant. Cutting then means the stool regrows vigorously in spring, and the timber is at its most durable. Anything cut in full leaf tends to be sappy and will shrivel as it dries.

Take stems that are one to three years old — roughly thumb to wrist thickness. Older rods are still useful for heavy-duty uprights, but they stiffen quickly and are harder to weave. Use loppers or a pruning saw and cut close to the stool, leaving a clean, slightly angled wound so rain runs off rather than settling in the cut.

• Sort as you cut: straight, whippy rods for weaving; thicker, sturdier stems for uprights and legs.
• Strip side shoots with secateurs or a billhook, running the blade away from your body.
• Keep lengths long — you can always trim, but you cannot add.
• Never take more than a third of the stems from any one stool in a season.

Curing, Storing and a Trick Against Rot

Bundle your rods and stand them upright in a shed, or lay them flat on battens off the ground. Air movement matters more than warmth. Three or four weeks of drying firms the wood and sets the curves you have put into it.

For rods that will sit in damp soil, try charring the bottom few inches over a fire until the surface blackens. It is an old technique and it genuinely slows decay, adding a year or two of life to a leg. Store finished supports horizontally under cover, and they will serve you for years rather than months.

A Woven Frame for Peas and Dwarf Beans

This is the workhorse of the cottage garden: a simple woven panel that stands in the row like a rustic hurdle.

• Push uprights into the ground every 45–60cm along the row, sinking them about 15cm deep for stability.
• Take a long, flexible rod and weave it horizontally, passing alternately in front of and behind each upright. Start low and work upwards.
• Weave the next rod in the opposite direction, so the pattern reverses and the frame locks together.
• Weave to about 1.2m for peas, higher for climbing French beans.
• Tuck the loose ends back into the weave rather than cutting them flush — the tension holds the panel rigid.

Space horizontals roughly 20–25cm apart. Closer than that and you will struggle to get your hands in at picking time.

Wigwams, Crossed Rows and Tall Perennials

For runner beans, a wigwam still takes some beating. Stand five or six stout rods in a circle, bring the tops together and lash them with twine, then run a few thinner rods around the outside as a spiral to give the tendrils something to catch. Set the legs 60–70cm apart at the base and firm the soil around each one.

Tall perennials — delphiniums, hollyhocks, rudbeckias, asters — appreciate something gentler. Push four uprights around the clump in early spring, while the shoots are still short, and weave horizontals between them to make an open cage. The plant grows up through it and the support disappears entirely by midsummer. A flat grid of crossed sticks, tied at each intersection, laid over a low-growing clump does the same job.

Securing Joints and Keeping Them Tidy

Use natural jute or hemp twine, which grips well and breaks down in time rather than strangling a stem. A simple wrapping knot is enough: loop the twine around the crossing point, pass it behind and pull it tight two or three times, then finish with a reef knot. Check the lashings in late spring, when wind and growth start to work them loose.

At the end of the season, lift your frames, shake off the soil and stack them dry. Any rod that has gone brittle can be cut up for kindling or added to the compost. Then, come January, take the saw to the coppice again — and the whole quiet cycle begins once more.