My Tree Fell Over

Primrose

That looks a huge improvement and hopefully the extra compost and water will have rescued your tree, for now at least. And the birds will still have nearby cover in which to flee from any passing sparrowhawk which is important. Our feeders are also located close to a large magnolia stellata bush for the same reason. Keep up the watering though. Now the growing season has started again trees really need it.

DaftyDuck

If you do water, do so occasionally and heavily, not often and light.

You want to drive those roots deep to get their own moisture, and to hold the tree in. Frequent watering will give unstable surface roots prone to drought.

ripplyuk

What a difference! I think it's lovely and I certainly wouldn't swap it for something else. You've done a great job in improving it OP. In fact, it's making me want one .

DigForVictory

That looks splendid! Sandy soil, but well fed with an Aldi nutrient pack dug in? Excellent thinking. <I'm on clay, so am biting back green envy!>
May it thrive, along with the rest of your gardening!

Justagardener

Having gardened by the river for too many years, I have come across many willows. Their natural habit is to break off or up root themselves in order to reproduce. They can sprout from live wood easily. Even though the Kilmarnock is top heavy, i wonder if it still retains its natural reproductive genes and this is why it might have fallen.

Mojisola

The weeping branches will have been grafted onto a different, straight-stemmed willow. Now that the trunk has been damaged, you'll need to look out for fresh shoots coming from it. These will be upright and fast-growing and will take over if not pruned off.

Shovel_Lad

I know I shouldn't really be reviving a dead thread, but as it is now slightly over a year since ny tree fell over, I thought I'd give a quick update.

One year later, and the tree is still here, it survived 50mph+ winds and a bit of snow over the winter without a problem, the catkins have come and mostly gone and the leaves are coming into their own, and today it looks like this:
[IMG]http://www.picturehost.eu/uploads/45935e6aaba95b63e236c187b284499a_Tree_s 2018.jpg[/IMG]
Thanks once again for all the advice (including that which I ignored )

I know it is a bit of a clich!, but people actually compliment us on our tree now and both we and the sparrows (and all the other birds that now use it) are very happy with how it turned out. So, I'd just like to say to anyone out there who has a neglected Kilmarnock willow, don't lose hope, they can be saved with a bit of TLC and a lot of pruning.

Davesnave

It's as good as it gets for a KW. Well done! :T

Waterlily24

Well done, that bit of the garden looks lovely.

harrys_nan

just found this thread :D

Your tree looks very happy now and I bet all the birds and insects are now very happy as well.
Very well done on sticking to your guns