What To Do With Garden Waste

For all living matter, decomposition is a natural part of life, and your garden is no exception. Garden waste can quickly build up if not taken care of, but instead of dumping it all in the bin, there are many great eco-friendly uses to make that garden waste work for you. Keep reading to find out how…

What is garden waste?

Let’s start by looking at what we mean by the term “garden waste”. Garden waste is the organic material created from those routine garden maintenance tasks.

This can be anything from grass clippings, fallen leaves, dead plants, pulled weeds, and much more. It also applies to larger items such as pruned branches and felled trees.

The ecosystem is designed to take care of all this garden waste, and with time it would naturally decompose and be reabsorbed into the earth. However, this process isn’t quick, and if left unchecked, it could soon overwhelm a carefully considered garden.

Therefore, managing garden waste is an essential part of garden management.

How to reuse garden waste

Households in England are producing on average 288kg of garden waste per year, with around 70% of that collected by waste management authorities.

This is a staggering amount of garden waste being thrown away when it could be used to further nurture and improve the gardens it came from.

Thankfully, it's never too late to start making the most out of your garden waste. Let’s have a look at some great ways to reuse your garden waste.

Get a compost bin

The best way to get the most out of your garden waste is to get a compost bin. Compost bins are one of the easiest and quickest ways to manage your garden waste.

As they are filled, compost bins retain the moisture and heat required to encourage the microorganisms in the waste to thrive.

With proper aeration, these microorganisms break down the garden waste and turn it into compost. Once this compost has cooled sufficiently, it can be applied to your garden to enrich the soil.

Composting is not only great for your garden, but for the environment as it cuts the amount of biowaste being dumped into landfills, which reduces CO2 emissions by around 50%. So if you’re looking for an easy, eco-friendly garden waste management solution, composting is the way to go.

While they are a great source of renewable energy for your garden, compost bins can’t handle larger items such as pruned branches or tree trunks. But don’t worry, we have a good solution for those.

Make wood-chips

If you find yourself with plenty of pruned branches or felled trees, you can turn that cumbersome waste into convenient wood-chips. Wood-chips can be used to make cosy garden paths, border for your plants, or can be mulched down to provide a protective layer for your soil that will suppress weeds.

Not only do wood-chips offer practical benefits, but also add an aesthetically pleasing charm to your garden that blends in with the natural surroundings.

But how do you make wood-chips? Well, you need a wood chipper for that. These chippers, also known as garden waste chippers, are an engine-powered machine that breaks down branches and tree trunks with spinning twin blades, until all that remains are easily-transportable wood chips.

Portable wood chippers are an efficient, effective and safe way to break down those larger branches. Their lightweight design makes them easy to manoeuvre over those uneven surfaces, which takes the stress out of lugging heavy loads from site to site.

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Build a Hügelkultur bed

Hügelkultur - which translates as “mound culture” - is an innovative gardening technique that can help you get the most out of your garden waste while also helping your garden to look amazing.

This centuries-old technique is a type of raised garden bed, in which plants are grown on a mound of garden waste, and are particularly popular in Eastern Europe. The process itself is not too unlike creating a lasagne.

These mounds can stretch as high as required. To start, an area must be selected which will form the plate for your Hügelkultur bed. Dig out an even layer of topsoil and store for later.

Once the land has been cleared, a layer of wood is placed down. Felled trees, pruned branches, leaves, or rough lumber are all perfect for this as they are quick to decompose. Packing them down tight will help to keep everything in place.

With the lower layer in place, it’s time to add grass and grass clippings. Place uprooted turf root-side up on the wood. Repeat this process as you would a lasagne, then finally top off the bed with a few inches of topsoil and mulch.

Give the mound time to settle. Then all you need to do is plant your plants and watch as the cycle of growth continues.

Create wildlife habitats

You may be surprised to discover how much wildlife benefits from your garden. Even those gardens located in towns and cities will be a safe haven for smaller critters, like hedgehogs and voles, that can use that garden waste for sustenance and shelter.

So, how can you help to support your local wildlife without compromising the tidiness of your garden? It’s simple. Make the space work for both you and your wild neighbours.

Repurpose felled trees by cutting them down into logs and stacking them in a pile. Wildlife will find all those little nooks and crannies the perfect space to shelter in.

These piles - or bug hotels as they are often called - don’t have to take up lots of space, and can be a fantastic way to introduce children into the valuable ecosystem that exists in your garden.

If you don’t have the spare wood or branches, don’t worry. You can create a wildlife patch from your garden waste. Dead and pruned plant materials will enrich the soil, which can be used to plant wildflower seeds. This in turn will encourage pollinators such as butterflies and bees to populate your garden.

Fallen leaves racked into a pile will offer shelter to all manner of wildlife. Hedgehogs will burrow into the pile and prosper from the plethora of bugs nestled amongst the leaves. Better yet, these leaf piles will naturally decompose, which will enrich the soil beneath it, so you don’t have to worry about sacrificing a patch of your garden for long.

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Build a weed pond

Weeds are a big problem is many gardens. Part of this is their tenacity to regrow no matter what we throw at them. Even when confronted with harsh chemicals that would easily kill the rest of your garden, perennial weeds come back time and time again.

What option does that leave you? Well, it might be time to consider building a weed pond. These can be built easily from an outdoor bin full of water. Simply dump those weeds in and leave them rot.

When buried in the earth, weed roots become incredible stores of rich nutrients. As the water breaks them down, those nutrients are unleashed in a manner similar to dunking a tea bag in a cup.

This transference of nutrients turns the water into an incredible fertiliser that you can add to your garden. Any time a new weed sprouts up, simply pluck it out and add it to the weed pond, giving you a renewable and easily accessible fertiliser source right in your garden.

And all it cost you was the price of a bin and the water to fill it up.

Donate to schools or community projects

You may not have the garden space to commit to a compost bin or bug hotel, but that doesn’t mean your waste can’t be used for those solutions. Reach out to your local schools or council to see what projects are in place.

Communal parks or allotments may have the facilities in place to turn your garden waste into useable compost, which in turn can be used to help the local environment thrive. Schools may use your fallen trees to build micro ecosystems to let plant and bug life grow, which can educate children about wildlife and the environment.

Garden waste can be transported in heavy-duty garden waste bags. It is advisable to wear protective gloves when bagging and transporting garden waste.

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Repurpose your garden waste at Hughie Willett Machinery.

With decades of experience providing high-quality ground care equipment, at Hughie Willett Machinery, believe you should never compromise on quality.

Whether you are a domestic gardener hoping to compost your waste, or a professional landscaper looking for a garden waste shredder, we have the right tools to help make your garden project perfect.