Could You Grow Your Own Broom?

Could you grow your own broom or besom to use in the garden for sweeping up all those autumn leaves and keeping paths clear year round? Of course you could!

I’ve long had a curiosity for what we might be able to grow and use on our gardens. Some of my thoughts and ideas are more practical than others, of course. But some can be accomplished, in part at least, in the smaller size of garden that many of us have. And if nothing else, this blog should provide you with a few minutes of an entertaining read.

Broom, Brush, Besom – What is the Difference?

Both broom and besom have long handles with some sort of brush material for collecting dirt attached to the lower end. They are often referred to as upright brooms, to distinguish them from a push broom which has a wider head and is heavy duty broom used commercially and by landscapers when clearing up.

A hand broom is what we more usually call a brush – as in ‘dustpan and brush’.

The besom, now often thought of as a witches’ broom stick, was once common. Until the twentieth century it was the main type of broom and used for daily sweeping around both the home and garden.

Now we’ve cleared that up, you may decide you’d like to grow a small brush rather than a larger besom, which is fine. Indeed it maybe easier if you’re trying to grow all the parts yourself, as, with a small brush the sweeping end can just be tied together and a handle omitted.

What Plants are Needed to Grow Your Own Broom?

We will need a plant for the handle, one for the sweeping end and one for twine. Although this latter is optional, I do give you a few ideas for plants to grow for string. I’m planning a more comprehensive blog on twine and string as it’s such a useful garden item and you might be surprised what you can grow yourself!

Traditionally the besom was made of a hazel (Corylus) handle or stem with birch (Betula) heather or broom (Genista) brushwood twigs for sweeping. The use of Genista twigs is supposed to have given us the name ’broom’ for this type of brush. The hazel poles were rounded rather than flat; and the twigs or broom ‘stall’ were gathered around to give a rounded sweeping end.

Handle

These are suggestions, but most woods will do the job. The critical element is that you have a straight piece of stem or branch that is long enough and strong / wide enough.

Ash
Beech
Birch
Eucalyptus
Hazel
Pine, Fir

Head, bristle, stall (sweeping end)

There are other plants to choose from, but these are the best options

Heather
Broom
Birch
Broomcorn
Piassava, bassine
Ruscus

Cap, tie

I’m just giving you this list as I’ve promised you a whole blog on plants for garden twine. Which will include what to grow (there are more) and how easy they are to process at home.

Flax
Hemp
Jute
Nettle
Willow
Yucca

Could you grow your own broom or besom?

Now for some of those plants in more detail, beginning with the broom handle and picking three that are more manageable in different sizes of garden. This is partly as all three will grow well as coppiced trees. Coppicing is where the tree is cut back to 1-3 buds above ground level (see blog link below for how you can use coppicing in the garden).

Left to grow unpruned, all three of these will become a single stemmed tree. But if the plant is coppiced you have a multi-stemmed tree. Depending on whether you’re growing for practical reasons – broom handles, plant supports; or purely ornamental, will decide how large you let the stems grow before coppicing and cropping them. Thus could be anything up to five years between harvests.

Ash

The ash tree, Fraxinus excelsior, has taken a major hit in recent years from ash die back, chalara, the fungus Hymenoscyphus fraxineus. However, there are ash trees that are naturally resistant to the fungus so it looks like there is hope.

That said, if the trees in the area around you are healthy, then growing one in your garden, coppiced if needs be, could be useful in many ways. Not just for you to grow your own broom handle.

Birch

When you intend to grow your own broom, Birch has the advantage of being useful as both the handle and the stall. Betula pendula, the silver birch, coppices well, giving you the smaller diameter stems needed for the broom handle.

Birch trees are frequently grown for their pale ornamental bark. Coppicing the birch gives a garden many slim stems of white peeling bark or the more unusual ginger-red tones. Making them a wonderfully decorative specimen plant in the garden, particularly during the winter months.

Hazel

Firstly a very useful plant to grow in your garden or allotment, and one that doesn’t need acres of space. I’d say that for most of us, this is the best option. Hazel, Corylus avellana, the common hazel, can provide you with material for broom handles, twigs and strong stems to use as plant supports, fencing and edible nuts too.

And for the bristle end that sweeps up the leaves …

Birch, Betula

A traditional birch broom is only as good as the brushwood you use, and birch brushwood needs to be seasoned for at least nine months. Too green, and the birch twigs will shrink and go brittle on the handle and fall to pieces – not much use as a brush if they do that!

Broomcorn

Sorghum vulgare was introduced to Italy from Syria in the 15th century, and from Europe to northern America in the 1700s. Benjamin Franklin is usually credited with its introduction into the USA.

Broomcorn was used for the brush end of a broom as the seedheads are coarse and fibrous – perfect for sweeping. It isn’t really an edible corn but is related to Sorghum bicolor which is grown for grain. Not really a practical crop for most of us to grow, but if yo have room to grow a small amount, you’ll be pleased to learn that its not too fussy about soil type and is drought tolerant.

Genista – Broom

Genista is a shrubby plant species, a member of the leguminous or pea family, also known as needle furze or needle whin. However, be sure not to confuse Genista with gorse (Ulex Europea) which also has the common name of furze.

A plant with good distribution across temperate Europe, especially on heath land and near the coast. Across the centuries, Genista anglica has been an easy resource for people to collect and use.

As well as making a good broom stall, Broom is a decorative garden plant. The flowers are the usual pea family shape, generally yellow, but also found in cream and pink bi-colour. Genista x spachiona has scented yellow flowers in spring and summer. Oh and just to confuse you when you’re looking for one at the plant nursery, the ornamental Genista are also known as Cytisus.

Heather

Heathers are low growing evergreen shrubs. And, as anyone who has waded across a heath will agree, their twiggy stems are sufficiently scratchy to make good brushwood.

The soil type in your garden will determine which heather varieties you can successfully grow. As a general rule, the winter and spring flowering varieties will grow on chalk or neutral soils. This includes most but not all of the Erica types. Whereas the summer and autumn flowering Calluna and Daboecia require an acid soil.

But of course, you could grow heather in containers where necessary, and have heather flowering in your garden all year round.

How to make your garden broom

I find something intrinsically fascinating about making an item from plants and even waste material in the garden. My brooms may not last long, but as they haven’t cost me anything that doesn’t matter. If you want to learn how to do it properly, there are both in person courses and online tutorials around showing the traditional method. This Stuart King clip tells you more about besom making past and present as well as showing how to make one properly. But if you just want a play broom for Halloween, then Wildlife Trust show a quick way to make one.

It is basically a matter of gather your brushy twigs and bind them around a long strong stem. But for the broom to be effective for its use, it does need to stay together, not break on first use and gather up the leaves and other detritus. Have fun, and perhaps practise before showing off your home grown and homemade broom …

and finally…

Have I enticed you into giving grow your own broom a go?

If that’s not quite your thing to put into practice, we have plenty more ideas for you to have a garden which is ornamental, edible and practical whilst being wildlife friendly, safe for pets, fun for children and easy to look after! Plews has been sharing gardening tips and inspiration through blogs since 2011 (and creating gardens and teaching you about them since 2001 And we are still bursting with ideas and support for you and your garden 🙂

For further gardening advice and inspiration, check out Plews Potting Shed blogs, including the selection below and our monthly Tipsheet – You could come and find us on Instagram Pinterest and Facebook too.

If you would like help with learning more about your garden and gardening, why not ask about Plews’ bespoke Gardening Lessons, where your classroom is actually your own garden. We can help you learn gardening basics, and also show you how to plan an ornamental border or kitchen garden. There’s a blog link below plus a pdf download with more info.

Do you like seeing what gardening experts get up to at home? You can have a peek at my new garden in the Instagram account @spitfiresandslowworms and for those of you who prefer Facebook – Spitfires and Slow Worms I say garden, but it was more of a collection of huge leylandii, overgrown shrubs, with nettles and brambles as tall as the shrubs. Although it does have a good selection of ash and hazel …