Best way to dispose of excessive yard trimmings?

[luigisf]

I recently moved in to my dad's house after I inherited it, and to my surprise, the front yard, backyard, and area around the shed need lots of work. My top priority is making the house look somewhat organized first by taking care of the yard trimmings left behind the shed and around the backyard. I have already spent a couple of weeks getting rid of a couple of prickly pears, and I filled up about 20 thirty gallon lawn bags just with these monsters! Next on the list is a big pile of branches and sticks behind the shed. It's probably about 5 cubic yards. Fortunately, there are no termites or any kind of pest.

The problem is that those paper bags are surprisingly fragile, and thought there might be a better way to go about it than letting the city compost it. So, I'd like to get some opinions on what I should do with this huge pile. I was thinking maybe renting a chipper from home depot and using it as mulch, or maybe it would be easier to do a controlled burn away from trees after a light rain. But, I'd rather get some opinions from experienced gardeners before I do anything.

Hopefully, with the help of the forums, we'll be able to return the yard to its former glory by next spring

 

[seedcorn]

I vote for shredding some of it. Controlled burn on the rest.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

i'd say the same as Seedcorn. though you probably want to identify your plants that are being pulled since some could be invasive and will quickly take root again if thrown into a compost area. i'm having this issue on my inherited property with Japanese knotweed and oriental bittersweet. i'm also finding poison ivy in some areas as i'm clearing scrub trees.

btw, welcome to TEG!

 

[seedcorn]

i'd say the same as Seedcorn. though you probably want to identify your plants that are being pulled since some could be invasive and will quickly take root again if thrown into a compost area. i'm having this issue on my inherited property with Japanese knotweed and oriental bittersweet. i'm also finding poison ivy in some areas as i'm clearing scrub trees.

btw, welcome to TEG!

If invasive, burn! I got mulch from city for charity job........HUGE mistake. I'm still pulling some sort of weed, can't kill it, just controlling it.

 

[catjac1975]

If you can wait until you are allowed to burn it would probably be the easiest. Especially given the fragile bags. We can burn from Jan, through May 1.

 

[baymule]

Welcome to TEG! We will be delighted to help you with any questions you might have. How nice that you inherited your Dad's house, is this where you were raised? I agree with the others, probably best to do a controlled burn to clean it up. Do be careful what you cut and take out. My brother in law and sister bought a nice home years ago with old growth plants and trees everywhere. We went to see them and BIL was chainsawing down a row of "ironwood" trees so he could plant crepe myrtles in their place. I looked the stumps and murdered "ironwood" trees over and politely informed him what he just cut down WAS crepe myrtles. :/