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Most carpentry work is done using wood that has been seasoned, which means it has been left until the moisture has completely gone (which takes a couple of years). The wooden benches you get in your average high-street store are made from seasoned wood. They are also usually treated with a preservative, which may contain toxic materials harmful to the environment. Green wood, as the name suggests, is wood that has been freshly cut and not left to dry out. The tools and the techniques for using green wood are quite different than for standard carpentry but are actually very good for the average gardener prepared to spend a bit of time learning the tricks of the trade. This is mainly because most of the materials you need can come from your own garden, as long as you’ve got a few trees or a hedgerow. Or ask your local park, woodland or local authority if they have any hedge trimmings or unwanted felled wood you could use.

The simplest form of green woodworking is stick furniture. This is literally furniture made from sticks harvested from hedgerows and coppiced woodlands. Stick furniture doesn’t last for ever but then it doesn’t matter if your mood changes and you want to replace it with something else. Just use the old chair for kindling. I’ve seen the same principle applied to an office made out of cardboard. The whole thing takes very little energy to make and is completely recyclable once the client has tired of it. Stick furniture is a lovely addition to any garden and you can book yourself on a day course for not much money (www.bodgers.org.uk, or locally to me Sylvantutch +44 (0) 1654 761614). For slightly more advanced homemade benches you could consider investing in a pole lathe (a footoperated device for turning wood), a set of lathe tools and a book such as Ray Tabor’s Green Woodworking Pattern Book. This contains more than 300 projects, ranging from stick furniture to tool making to gates, fences, hanging baskets, bird tables, compost bins, arbours and trellis. For most of the projects you just need access to a handful of basic hand tools (no power tools are used) and some coppiced wood from a hedgerow or local woodland. If you just fancy having a go at green woodworking, check out local green fairs, festivals or country shows. There’s usually an opportunity to make something simple with a wood lathe. If you live in London get yourself down to the Woodland Wonders Fair at Kew Gardens held every May Bank Holiday, see www.rbgkew.org.uk/events.