How I Dispose of Woody Garden Waste

I thought it might be of interest to someone to take a few pictures and show how I deal with all the woody vegetation the garden produces throughout the year.

The garden is slightly smaller than an acre and there is always a sizeable amount of garden waste to dispose of.  To minimise the number of trips my husband and I take to the tip (council waste recycling centre), we have developed the following regime.

Smaller branches, woody growth, and rose prunings are stacked up in a pile.

When the pile reaches waist height, there is a sufficient amount of woody matter to warrant getting out the shredder/garden chipper and turning it on.

It has a 2500W electric motor, a turbine-cut blade system and can take branches up to 45mm in diameter. We find that the blades don’t clog if the ratio between dry branches and lush foliage is kept the same.

The shredded matter is then put in a wire mesh sided compost bay - only shredded branches and foliage go on this pile. I have different compost bins in the garden for other types of garden waste.

I have two enclosures for shreddings, one which I add to gradually and a second where the shreddings are left to rot down.

After approximately six to nine months the shreddings have composted down to something like a cross between garden compost and forest bark.

I then use this composted material as mulch on borders and as path coverings in my fruit cage.

Now for the Pros – sorry I am biased because I love my shredder.

This is the fifth garden shredder we have owned and in my opinion it’s the best one to date.

We don’t have to sharpen the blades as with others machines which sometimes requires dismantling the top part of the machine in order to get them out.

The motor is strong enough to ‘pull’ material through the blades.

It has a reverse feature where the blades turn in the opposite direction - this is useful if the entrance to the blades becomes blocked.

It does not overheat when used for long periods of time - generally I need a cup of coffee after about 20 minutes so never keep it running for very long anyway.

It is sturdily built and can be easily pulled or pushed to where it’s needed.

And now for the serious stuff -

You do have to be sensible when using it .  When shredding don’t wear baggy clothing, wear eye goggles, ear defenders and thick gloves – I also wear steel capped boots.  Only feed branches in one or two at a time; and whatever you do do not try to unclog the blades when the motor is running. If the blades clog, turn it off at the wall and pull the plug out.

Some sales spiel

I think this type of shredder/garden chipper is suitable for our size of garden which is just under an acre as we have a fair amount of large shrubs including laurel, hawthorne and holly as well as a small copse of mature trees.  If you are thinking of purchasing a shredder, there are many online articles regarding types of garden shredder/chipper alternatively they can be hired at most equipment tool hire shops.

Incidentally, thicker, heavier branches are cut up, piled in a wood store and left to dry out ready for burning on the open fires in the winter.

What to do with an unwanted and unsightly conifer tree stump

I thought somebody might want ideas on how to deal with tree trunks and stumps in the garden.  So I have described below how I dealt with the problem and hope it will provide inspiration for others.

At the back of the rose border on the north side of the garden, there had been for many years a massive conifer.  Its only redeeming feature was - well it didn't have one - so one day my husband started up the chainsaw and down it came.  Ah yes, it did have a redeeming feature - firewood for our open fires in the winter.

Then what to do with the trunk which was sticking out of the ground? I had an idea - a pedestal for a focal point.  My husband left the remaining trunk standing but cut it down till it was a three foot high stump sticking out of the ground.



Have you ever noticed how column-like tree trunks are?


I made a trip to my local TK Maxx which has a HomeSense section and found an armillary for £39.99.  I gave it makeover using one can of silver spray paint which brightened it up. 

My husband then fixed it to the top of the conifer stump using screws and hey presto as the pictures below illustrate, an attractive solution to an unsightly tree stump - plus a focal point without spending too much money.

My Autumn Project

My Autumn Project

On the north side of the house is the courtyard and this was the site for my latest project. On the opposite side of the courtyard away from the house lies a border where I grow a small collection of roses.  This bed is backed by a dry stone boundary wall, two medium sized holly trees (shaped every winter) and two large Scots pine. 

From early May until October this rose bed is a wonderful display of colour from delicate clusters of pure white to dark cerise blooms heavy with heady perfume.  I have planted here mainly shrub roses – such as Rosa Anthony, Charlotte, Robert le Diable as well as a few ramblers which I have transplanted from elsewhere in the garden (I don't know their names).

Over the years I have experimented with various ways of companion planting for the rose bushes - hardy geraniums, alchemilla mollis, ferns, hostas - I think I have tried just about everything and I have never been really happy with any of the results as you can see here the border looks very miserable in early spring.  I felt like trying something different.

Following a autumnal trip to Thorpe Perrow Arboretum in Yorkshire, I wanted to reproduce their fantastic range of stunning autumn and winter colours.  Shrubs were out of the question as I felt that the roses would be sufficient to provide bulk to the area, this meant I was limited to perennials.  It is very easy to put together a list of perennials which provide colour through autumn-winter-spring but one has to experiment to see which one will actually thrive in situ. 

I started by interspersing the roses with cyclamen in groups of three.

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I then dotted about a few members of the aster family including symphyotrichum novi-belgii  and novi-angliae for early autumn colour.  Here and there at the front of the border some erica carnea  and calluna vulgaris.  

To finish off  persicaria macrophela “Purple Fantasy”. 

and persicaria macrophela “Red Dragon” (I think), likewise the tones are beautiful in Red Dragon and are further illuminated when the sun shines on the plant.

Heucheras, trailing heuchera, heucherella and a very small specimen of rudbeckia Goldstrum were also planted to the front.

I know a lot people grow cornus and acer for autumn winter colour and I did try growing three cornus flaviouruous a few years back; I have to admit that in the winter they out shone anything in the garden but for the rest of the year they were just boring green shrubs -  I have enough of those in the garden already.  I’m hoping that as the plants in this bed mature they will clump up and not look so small and weedy. I shall be interested to see what the effect will be in the years to come. 

The rose border in summer.

Garden Tour

The house and garden covers just under an acre in size with the house standing more or less in the middle of the plot and the garden surrounding around it.  It will be a lot easier to understand the layout if I take you on a descriptive tour round the garden. 

View of the drive from the house looking towards the main entrance

Starting from the main entrance; as you walk up the paved drive, to your right is a triangular area running parallel with the drive; I call this the oriental garden and is home to a collection of azaleas, acers and rhododendrons, on your left is a small copse of mainly sycamore trees which is covered by an area preservation order. 

Walking on past our house on your right and with our garage to your left you enter a sheltered north-facing paved area, this has herbaceous borders on the northern side and also running alongside our garage.  Diagonally in front of you, on the opposite side of the paved area, is the greenhouse; if you walk on with the greenhouse to your left, in front of you is the orchard.  This is where we have apple, plum and cherry trees. In between the orchard and the northern boundary hedge stands the fruit cage where I grow soft fruits.  

Walk to your right through the orchard and past the back door of the house and you come to a south-facing sunken terrace built of local stone.  The terrace has a flight of steps leading down to it from the orchard and facing south; walking across the sunken terrace leads you to the south-facing green walkway, this has two parallel borders where shrubs such as osmanthus, box, sarcococca and azaleas grow. At the end of this walkway on a plinth is a bust of Julius Caesar.  

At Julius Caesar turn to your right and you walk on the main lawn of 450 sq metres. In front of you on the other end of the front lawn is the oriental garden and to your right is our house raised up on a terrace with steps leading down on the lawn. 

Up against the terrace’s supporting wall and either side of the stone steps are two borders where I grow or attempt to grow anything with a blue flower.  If you climb the steps of the terrace surrounding the house and then walk to your left in front of the house you emerge back on the main drive and well that’s the end of the tour.

I hope you enjoyed walking round our garden; in the years we have lived here we have never deliberately planned the layout; it has evolved over the years into the areas that exist today.  These areas need regular maintenance and tweaking throughout the year and I plan to record my work in this blog as and when the time comes. 

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About me

My name is Miranda and I was born and grew up in Surrey.  I have been married now for 29 years and have a daughter and a son.  Throughout our married life my husband and I have had to move our family around the country several times due to job relocations.   We enjoy our life in the north-east of England and do not relish the thought of further moves.

I currently work as a secretary, I love going to concerts and the theatre, visiting other peoples gardens, painting and drawing, lying on beaches in hot countries and generally enjoying life, BUT most of all I love gardening.

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Over the years I have lived in four different counties and owned gardens in three - Sussex, Hertfordshire and now Northumberland so I reckon I have acquired quite a lot of knowledge and experience of gardening in a variety of locations and situations.  

Over the years each garden has had to fulfill so many demands put upon it - from child friendly gardens which educate and amuse to somewhere photogenic enough to use in college/university assignments.  In all three counties each garden has truly been multi-functional.

In future blogs I plan to describe which gardening methods I have found work here in Northumberland as well as to record any changes that I make to the garden. I hope that my posts will be of interest to someone but would like to remind all that what I find works here is either because of advice given to me or what I have discovered through trying anything and everything which comes to mind, and that it may not necessarily work for you in your own garden.