Disposing of wood prunings

Tim Rumball suggests ways to make good use of your woody waste

- Tim Rumball

THE brash or woody waste from pruning trees and shrubs can be too much. In my small garden I have an ornamental hawthorn tree that’s cut back every three years and the waste completely covers the lawn. Even on a smaller scale it can at first sight seem difficult to deal with, but there are plenty of options and prunings can be a valuable asset.

The first option is to take the prunings to the tip for green-waste recycling. If you have a small garden with little space to process the material, this makes sense. Don’t waste time cutting the stems into little pieces – leave them up to 6ft (2m) long, cut off the side branches and pile them all, lined-up, in the centre of a dust sheet or similar. When you’ve got a good pile, wrap one side of the sheet over the prunings, then roll them up tight, tie with a rope and they’ll be easy to transport to the tip fastened to a roof rack or in the back of an estate car or hatchback.

Good for composting

If you have only a small number of woody prunings, they can be cut into short pieces with secateurs or thicker ones bashed with a hammer on an anvil (a chopping block is ideal) to crush them before adding them to the compost bin. The best compost has a high percentage of woody material. It will take longer to break down than soft green material, but after a year in the bin a few woody bits won’t do any harm if added to the soil. Alternatively, pick them out and put them back in the bin with the next lot of waste until they break down completely.

An insect hotel or burn for potash?