Brushwood rules - okay!

• ^{Stories from AJ have been published since 1994 in magazines, summer specials and international competitions, been broadcast on radio and recorded for audio books. AJ now writes almost exclusively for ebooks, and can be found on Amazon Kindle.}
  

In Spain it's called Brezo. In the UK its often called brushwood, but it's actually dwarf pine - heather .

Brushwood Fencing is made from thick and thin pieces of heather woven together with galvanized wire. As fencing material, it's becoming an increasingly popular alternative to brick, steel and timber, it's durable, and is impervious to termites.

I’m a fan of brushwood fencing. Brushwood fencing is useful for many applications, it’s relatively cheap, long lasting, and best of all, needs no painting.

Note in the picture, I've wrapped brushwood around metal fence posts to make them more attractive.

It can be fastened onto existing fences that are past their sell-by date to spruce things up, or like I've done in the photo, clipped with plastic cable-ties to a wire or chain-link fence to remove that utilitarian feel.

Brushwood is also a useful building material. I’ve used it to make a woodshed – where its ability to let the shed ‘breathe’ makes it ideal to store wood.

The shed has a timber frame of 2" x 1" treated softwood to give the structure strength and rigidity. For the roof I used corrugated plastic to keep it watertight but covered it with brushwood for looks. For the walls I fitted brushwood directly onto the timber frame, and lined the inside with plastic net to stop the brushwood scraping my hands when I'm working in there.

The shed allows air to flow around yet deflects rain to keep it dry - an ideal solution. I think I'm beginning to have an adult romance with this material.

I’ve also used brushwood as a screen to hide a 3000 litre water tank.

A water tank isn't the most pleasant thing to have in a garden - very necessary though here in Spain where the supply can be less than secure. A screen is an ideal solution, and doesn't look out of place against the orange tree.

I’ve used brushwood on a block wall to hide the blocks where it was awkward to screed.

The natural look also enhances the wall and breaks up what would otherwise have been too much of a screeded area.

And I’ve used brushwood as roofing material on a gazebo to simulate thatching.

Overall, I find brushwood very versatile. I’d hate to be without. It looks natural, it looks good, and in short moments it smartens the place up.

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I can think of no other material that is so good to look at, so natural, and so easy to use. It's good value.

Give it a try. You might just be impressed.