Grow Your Own Firewood

Book excerpt: With the ever-rising cost of energy, it makes increasing economic sense to grow your own fuel. A woodland managed on a coppice cycle can provide an annual harvest of wood for fuel as well as timber for building and other uses. A woodland also offers the opportunity for landscape improvement and for the creation of wildlife habitats, and it can become a wonderful amenity for recreation and relaxation. This guide is concerned primarily with the establishment of trees for firewood over the first 10 to 15 years. It takes you step by step through planning and designing your woodland, selecting the best species for your site, buying stock, preparing the ground, planting and protecting the trees, maintaining your new woodland, and harvesting the wood. It also explains how to bring existing woodland into productive management. Creating a sustainable woodland is an inspirational and uniquely rewarding project, and with the help of this book you will be able to plan, plant and manage a productive woodland in harmony with nature.