![the coppice woodland the coppice woodland](https://bodgerjohn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Coppiced-Tree.jpg)
The coppice woodland plus#
Plus more great organic matter in the soil from those deep tap roots. Not enough to be effective mulch now, but it provided some protection from the summer sun until after the sweet potatoes were big. There is still a thin layer under the sweet potato vines, eight months later. I chop and dropped most of the dill down to the ground.
![the coppice woodland the coppice woodland](https://noningtonfarms.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/DenneHill_167-1024x683.jpg)
It was taller than my head and so thick we couldn't see the neighbor's house across the street. Last year dill grew through the winter, in the same bed as the peaches and sweet potatoes. If you time it right, you could plant a different crop during the cool season to continue to get use from that space. When it gets too cold for the squash I think the grass would be going dormant. You would have to replant each year, but after the first year you should be easily able to save seeds. If they don't then maybe something like a squash. If they can thrive in your conditions then I'd highly recommend them. In my conditions they grow so vigorously that they are trying to smother all the other low growing plants I want in that bed. Sweet potatoes produce a particularly high amount of below ground biomass from undeveloped potatoes and are quickly improving the soil where they grow. I do this with sweet potatoes below my espalier peaches. Something else you might think about is growing large leafy vines nearby. I know the small mulch of forest leaf-matter will help but what about a medium term organic mulch? I know that Comfrey is a good shout for chop and drop in the long term but what does anyone else think to this? Perhaps wood chip? Last year I used black plastic as a mulch, the stuff that farmers use for covering hay bales, but I want to find an organic alternative. I am planting hundreds of trees with the aim of covering 2 acres eventually, walking out from our tree covered boundary to give the trees some shade in Summer, then planting a few hundred trees each year.
![the coppice woodland the coppice woodland](https://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large-5/coppice-woodland-in-late-summer-dr-jeremy-burgessscience-photo-library.jpg)
The trees have been planted into tall and well established grass, although this year it was so dry that a lot of it has died and new stuff is poking through during the sunny Autumn. After this I used mulch from their home woodland to mulch around each tree, about 1 1/2 foot in diameter. I planted the trees bare root using a notch technique in a small circle in the grass I cleared with a strimmer. I have sourced all of the young trees (20-60cm high) from local woodlands and I am planting about every 5 ft. I am trying to establish a coppice woodland of mixed species including Ash, Sweet Chestnut and Hazel. This is my first post here and I am hoping to find some useful information.