I’ve realised another benefit of having a chainsaw. As well as speeding up the time it takes to cut lengths of wood into sections that will fit the log burner (before splitting and seasoning) and allowing me to tackle logs that would have been almost impossible with my existing set of hand tools, it also produces a lot of little woodchips. I’ve only done three chainsawing sessions so far and ended up with a bag and a half of chippings, enough to cover a patch about a meter square in the veg cage at the allotment.

The wood chippings sit on top of cardboard. The bottom layer excludes light from the weeds underneath, limiting their ability to grow. Meanwhile, the chippings make it easy to pull out any weeds that germinate among them and prevent me getting too muddy when the weather is wet.

I’d been wanting to get more chippings and the fact I now get them as a side benefit of processing firewood is a real boon. By the time I get my current lot of unprocessed wood cut down, I should have enough to finish off the uncovered area inside the veg cage, certainly once I’ve tweaked the bed dimensions a bit more.