What do you do when you have yard waste you can’t compost?
Throw it out for the trash? Of course not. Burn it? That might work if it is dead wood and you live in an area where burning is allowed, but this stuff would smoke and disturb the neighborhood. If you live in a municipality that has separate yard waste pickup, you could be in luck, but what if you don’t? Well then, you could rely on your friends, and that, is exactly what I did this week.
Meet my friend, Sandy. She lives out in a rural area on a property with lots of space and lots of woods. We were having dinner one night, and I brought up my conundrum for some reason. I have a bunch of annuals and perennials that get overgrown by fall and I need to get them pulled out but I have no where to go with them. Enter Sandy. She says, “I take all of my old Black-eyed Susans and throw them into the woods next to my house. I do not care if they grow there and you are welcome to bring yours over and do the same thing.”
You may think that is a lot of effort to recycle yard waste, and it probably is, but it is important to me. I want to be able to use my compost and weeds, perennials and annual plants that spread like crazy will ruin your compost pile. At the same time, I want to limit my trash and this does not seem to be the best thing to send to the landfill.
If you are trying to get rid of organic material you cannot compost, check with your friends before throwing it in the landfill. You might have someone that you can rely on to help you.
