A couple of days ago I demolished my old wooden compost bin (itself made of re-purposed timber!), and pruned the shrubs that surrounded it, making way for a new cucumber 'bed'. Today I tackled the resulting big pile of prunings.
My aim was to salvage anything useable from the prunings, and chop the remainder into small pieces that would be easier to dispose of. With the aid of a pair of sturdy loppers and a pruning saw I was able to get myself quite a few decent-sized sticks that I will use to construct my cucumber frame in a couple of months' time, along with plenty of smaller sticks that will come in handy for supporting young plants, and protecting them from cats (and foxes?). Using the wood in this way rather than just chucking it away seems sensible to me, and it salves my conscience a bit too, because I won't need to buy bamboo canes shipped-in from the other side of the world.
After extracting the useable sticks, I was left with a number of big branches and a pile of small twigs. I separated these and will take them to the tip. Our local Council maintains a "Household Re-Cycling Centre" (aka Tip) which includes bins for the collection of compostable materials, and the twigs are destined for these, while the bigger branches (anything over 25mm in diameter), which I have sawn up for easier disposal, will probably be incinerated (It's a shame about that.)
In order to transport the trimmings to the tip I shall use old compost bags, which are very sturdy and will not get ripped by the sharp twigs like purpose-made garden waste bags would! I use commercial compost for my pots and tubs (e.g. for the tomatoes), so I end up with several compost bags each season. I re-use them in a number of ways.
 |
| Old timber from the bin awaiting disposal, alongside the prunings |
Now I just wish I had a few hazel trees that I could coppice, and make bean-poles from...
Great way of reusing!
ReplyDeleteBack at my country we used to make fences out of the spiky branches from trimmed bougainvilleas, all to protect the sidewalk plants from the neighborhood dogs.
yes, a hazel coppice would be such a luxury! Today we were cutting down ash saplings that have grown up just outside my Dad's garden wall. We really wanted to take them back to Edinburgh with us, but we can't fit them in to the car, given the whole Christmas caboodle that we transport each year.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year! Enjoying your blog as always. Thanks for asking about our water situation in NI. Unfortunatley I'm one of the ones with a burst pipe and no water at the minute. Will get it sorted soon. All the best for 2011, Kelli.
ReplyDeleteI am very impressed by your green approach in this blog. I would be saving the compost wood for burning in the fire in winter. Does this mean you won't be composting any more?
ReplyDeleteHazel; I will definitely continue composting. It's just that the prunings from those shrubs were too much for my little compost bins (which are already pretty much full). I want to keep the right balance between the greens and the browns. I don't have an open fireplace, so there is no chance of me burning the logs either. Perhaps I'll rescue a few of them and add them to my little log-pile (aka insect hotel).
ReplyDeleteI was about to remark on how wonderful all the things you are doing are, and then I read that you would like to coppice a hazel tree.
ReplyDeleteMark, what on earth does that mean?!
Hi Kelli; Hope the water-supply situation gets resolved quickly. It must be a huge inconvenience for you. How was your holiday?
ReplyDeleteLinda; re coppicing: I treat my Philadelphus shrubs (I have two) as a harvestable resource. Every year I crop a few of the smaller straighter branches for gardening purposes, and new ones grow.
ReplyDeleteAli; coppicing means simply pruning very hard,usually right down to just above ground level, so that the tree produces lots of new shoots. In olden times this was a big industry, producing hazel twigs etc for making things like fence panels and bean poles. You don't see it done so much these days.
ReplyDeleteA month ago I made a fence from coppiced hazel trees. Now I'm thinking to make borders for garden beds with it. It is a great material to build with.
ReplyDeleteHi Vrtlarica; I'm impressed. I would not be capable of doing that. You should show us a photo of your fences. Maybe you could do a blogpost about this? There's obviously a lot of interest in such things in our blogging community!
ReplyDelete'Coppice'... I just learned a new word and technique today... thanks...
ReplyDeleteMark, I understand from one of your comments that you need to use an image of the komatsuna plant... you may be interested to see such an image in my garden...
It's always good to recycle, I have all sorts dotted around the garden.
ReplyDeleteHi Lrong: Thanks for visiting my blog. I love having new friends. You have an amazing collection of photos on yours - I think I will be using them to help me identify all the oriental veg I plan to grow! Thanks for the kind offer of permission to use a photo of komatsuna, but I already have one provided by another friend.
ReplyDeleteHave fun coppicing...!
Hi Damo: don't take the "re-purposing" too far though - you could end up being the next Bob Flowerdew!
I feel so much better when I reuse something rather than throw it away. So much better for the environment and easier on the pocket too.
ReplyDeleteWe have a couple of hazel bushes on the plot Mark - they were originally the twisted hazel type shrubs that were moved from the garden as we didn't really like them. Over the year they have become normal hazel and we coppiced for the first time last year and ended up with some strong branches that we used as supports for squash etc. The bushes are now growing again quickly.
ReplyDeleteIf any of you shrub prunings are buddleia you could well end up with more shrubs. I once used prunings as sticks on the plot and many took root!
Hi Green Lane Allotments; I don't have any existing Buddleia bushes, otherwise I'd follow your advice. It sounds like they are easy to propagate from cuttings. I'm after a really deep purple one -- have you got any??? :)
ReplyDeleteAhh, thank you... can you coppice anything, or is it only for hazel trees? Hee hee, do you think Hazel would appreciate a coppicing?
ReplyDeleteAli; I'm not an expert on coppicing, but I would assume that you could coppice any quick-growing tree - for instance willow, and ash. Maybe even chestnut? And No, I don't think it would be a good idea to coppice our own dearly-beloved Hazel; she might re-sprout into lots more Hazels. Could you accept that responsibility???
ReplyDeleteSome of my 'cuttings' came from the chopped up bits that a plot neighbour had left on his compost heap.
ReplyDeleteI do have the deep bluish purple Black Knight or Prince (can't remember the name exactly as I bought it ages and ages ago) which was the only one I actually bought and I also has a sort of reddish purple too but I'm not sure how I could send you bits of twig from Yorkshire!