On 03/03/2014 20:12, GMM wrote:

The spring is coming and, inconveniently, our LA has stopped its 'all
you can eat' approach to green waste, so now we have to rent wheelie
bins. Although you can rent more than one, and we'll get a couple,
there's a limit to how many dirty great bins you can have around the
place, and I reckon that 2 weeks of cutting our grass will probably fill
one of them. We also 'employ' a gardener (yup, it's a pretty big
garden). Although he's getting on a bit, he still seems to be able to
cut down a lot of stuff in teh few hours he's here.

A single grass cut would fill mine, but I use it to make leaf mould and
compost everything. If you have a decent amount of stuff to add at once
it will be a hot heap and nothing bad will be willing to live in it
apart form the odd slow worm or grass snake on the edges.

The obvious solution (which most people will take) is, unfortunately, to
burn the excess, as the last thing I want is to accumulate piles of
rat-infested compost heaps that never get used.

It shouldn't be rat infested unless you put food waste on it. And a few
cubic yards of good home made compost is always useful in the garden.

So....What's the best arrangement for burnign garden waste? Obviously,
it needs a bit of time to dry out first, but this can be reduced by
getting a good blaze going. My first thought was/is a galvanised
incinerator bin but before I get one, I thought someone here might have
some insight.

Cheers chaps

Wait until it is tinder dry, build an open bonfire and then torch it on
a fairly still day with the wind blowing away from your neighbours.

I tend to do this only for diseased wood that I don't want on my compost
heap. Everything else gets composted. The only thing is that you want a
hot compost heap away from the house because it smells a bit funny for a
few days after adding bulk material due to short chain fatty acids (or
oil of wintergreen with lots of pine needles and bark).

--
Regards,
Martin Brown