Shredded garden waste

NualaBuala

Hi garden gurus, :wave:

I've been clearing my overgrown garden and the waste is piling up. I got a shredder from L1dl which will at least reduce the volume.

I've got small branches, twigs, ivy, brambles, roots I've dug up (probably brambles but not sure) prunings from various shrubs, wallflowers, some grass, weeds and who knows what else to get rid of. I planned to put them all through the shredder and bag them up.

Could I use the shreddings? As mulch maybe or in the compost heap? Any advice welcome.

Thanks in advance.

knithryn

Sort out the shreddings into things likely to grow and invade youur beds, and those that won't.
For example, do NOT shred bindweed then mulch your beds with it.
Small branches etc would be fine as a mulch I think, especially if you have a shady 'woodlnady' area. I wouldn't put roots on as a mulch, in fact some invasive plant roots get thrown in my 'official' green waste bin as I know their composting programme gets to a decent temperature, mine doesn't.
Roots from annual plants etc that have been dug out would be fine in the mulch. As would many prunings.
Weeds I'd put on the compost heap to rot down first.

NualaBuala

Thanks knithryn,:T I'll have to look up bindweed as I don't know if I have it or not. Knowing how badly overgrown the garden was, I bet I do!

How about ivy and brambles? Could they grow again once they're shredded?

Escal

Have you tried your shredder yet? Some don't cope well with soft green material and it's not worth trying to shred weeds. Throw them on the compost heap and forget them for a year or two then have a pleasant surprise digging out all your free manure.
Shredded woody material makes a fine mulch. Spread it as thickly as you like around bushes, roses etc.

knithryn

You'll kow you had bindweed if you were pulling out long stringy weeds with stems a metre or more in length, that was like tough string. The roots are white and quite straight, and break easily. You'll need to remove every single tiny scrap of the roots as it grows again from a single inch long piece.
I wouldn't shred the brambles - they are spikey. Why put spikey stuff on the ground where youu might want to weed and work on it? Plus brambles can send out roots from their stems, so I'll bet they are tough enough to grow again from a mashed up piece. They will also root in your compost bin. I'd send the brambles away.

NualaBuala

No Escal, the shredder is still sitting in its box. Grand, will put the green stuff on the compost heap. Was afraid the ivy would take root there and keep growing! It's just a heap as I don't have one of the fancy compost containers but I can see that the old stuff has already gone composty. I love free stuff! And I hate the idea of spending money on having to dispose of all this stuff.

Thanks for the bindweed description Knithryn. I think the flowers are pretty (did a bit of googling) but I'm relieved I don't have it. The brambles and ivy have sent out long runners all over the place though so I'll have a lot of work getting on top of those and keeping them away. I've got rid of the worst of them I think. I've been able to pull up some of the roots and runners but they do break sometimes so will have to watch for them regrowing.

Thanks both of you for the advice:T

valk_scot

If you shred the ivy and throw it in the bin it will certainly take root there. As will possibly quite a lot of other things in your list. Most of this stuff should go straight to the green recycling area at the local tip tbh and if you're unsure as to what's what, take all of it. One of the worst things you can do is chop up aggressive weeds/plants from one part of the garden and spread them round all of the garden, unfortunately.

Bag up the soft stuff, chop down the big bulky stuff and bag it up too and take it to the tip.

NualaBuala

valk_scot wrote: »

If you shred the ivy and throw it in the bin it will certainly take root there. As will possibly quite a lot of other things in your list. Most of this stuff should go straight to the green recycling area at the local tip tbh and if you're unsure as to what's what, take all of it. One of the worst things you can do is chop up aggressive weeds/plants from one part of the garden and spread them round all of the garden, unfortunately.

Bag up the soft stuff, chop down the big bulky stuff and bag it up too and take it to the tip.

Oh no! Thanks for the heads up. Would it make any difference if the shreddings were left in a bag in the garage for a while - would they die? I was hopiing to avoid a trip to the dump as we have to pay to get rid of green waste.

macman

Since you've paid for it, I would put most of it through the shredder anyway. Even if some of cannot be used on the garden or composted, it will greatly reduce the bulk to eventually dispose of.

NualaBuala

macman wrote: »

Since you've paid for it, I would put most of it through the shredder anyway. Even if some of cannot be used on the garden or composted, it will greatly reduce the bulk to eventually dispose of.

Well I could still return the shredder I guess. But I think it's probably worth keeping for all the prunings etc that I will still have to deal with even when the garden is cleared. And like you say, it will reduce the volume so I can hopefully get rid of the stuff in just one car load instead of several which will save money.