By ROBERT ZOLLNA

RZOLLNA@SOUNDPUBLISHING.COM

It’s that time of year where gardeners around Kitsap are prepping their gardens for the bounty of summer to come. They often they end up with a pile of brush or storm-damaged or fallen branches.

Most people run the branches through a chipper, compost them or haul them away.

But one other option is to recycle branches and sticks into a “wattle” weaving, a centuries-old technique that uses nearby materials to fill a practical need. A wattle fence consists of a series of upright, thicker wooden poles driven into the ground with stems and flexible branches woven in and out.

A wattle can be both useful and also a beautiful conversation starter for the garden. Wattles can be used for a homemade fence, arbor or even outdoor furniture. The end product can be far more attractive than a chain-link fence around the back yard. They’re also inexpensive.

Wattle has been used for centuries to keep chickens or cows out of the vegetable gardens. Wattle is deceptively strong. It is usually woven while green and as it dries, the shrinkage of the material tightens up the whole structure. Wattle is so strong that it was used to keep cattle and sheep penned. It is not known exactly when the practice was invented, but archaeologists have discovered wattle structures have been in use since Neolithic times.

Best known in Europe, wattle woven fencing is still common. To daub or slap on mud and clay over a wattle framework is called “wattle and daub” and was once the most common building practice in England. It was often white washed. Many examples still remain today.

Traditionally the material used was willow suckers or hazel, but any woody, bendable, fairly straight sticks and branches will work.

With practice, wattle can be formed into almost any structure, including arbors, benches, tables and chairs.

Being a natural product, the choice of material will determine its longevity. But the vertical post can be easily replaced by pounding a new pole next to the old one, and new sticks can always be woven in as the old ones rot.

So before firing up the chipper, consider re-purposing what would normally be throwaway this year and make something as beautiful as it is practical — a wattle.