Chipping Brash

 I seem to have done a lot of work with the trees on these 5 acres the last few months. What I need to do now is start tidying up before the grass starts to grow. 

The first job is to chip all the brash that I've got piled around the place. The picture above shows the blackthorn I've taken from my little coppice. I'm still not finished in there, but it does feel like I've made an impact to stop it's spread. 

Fuel Willow Planted And Planning A New Garden

Yesterday I managed to finish planting my willow cuttings that I'm growing for fuel. 

I planted most of them through weed matting but run out on the last row. So instead I mulched them with some of my woodchip I've got stored up. It will be interesting to see which ones do best as they're growing next to each other. I should imagine the wood chip is better in the long run as it will add something to the soil as well as preventing the grass from growing. Also its going to  leave nothing behind when I'm finished with it - something I'm very aware of when using plastic based weed suppressant.  

This week I'm planning on ploughing another nursery/garden in the field nearest to the house (I know I'm mental) and I keep thinking about how I'm going to keep the weeds away without using sprays. Even getting rid of the grass is going to be difficult. 
Any advice for starting a plot from scratch? I've done it once and hopefully it'll be easier this time with what I've learnt already.