EEEK! Just nearly had a disaster with our incinerator!

[Flightputsonahat]

I am a bit dim so forgive me and don't laugh too loud

We have a huge mass of brambles I'm clearing from our long neglected garden.

So I bought a cheapo incinerator to burn them in as thwey would be about 6 months worth of green wheely bin collections otherwise.

It rained last night (luckily) so thought we'd have a gentle try this morning, I bunged in some rather damp brambles and chucked in a match. The second one lit and immediately it was an inferno

I put the lid on but bits of glowing ash flying out everywhere - luckily we have an outside tap nearby so I doused it with lots of water and it went out. But it really freaked me out as I think if it were left, it would send little sparks all over the garden and neighbourhood and things would be on fire

What is the proper way to do this please? Can I do it in Autumn when things aren't so tinder dry, or should I just get a compost heap instead?

Advice please!

Before I drown in brambles...

brambles are not so good in a composter, I like to shred my brambles and then use as a mulch in the veg patch although 3 years of hacking has all but killed them off and sent the suckers next door {wink] if you are able to, maybe cut them down and leave them where they are so they dry out and shrink and so be more managable? or I once used an old rug to place over the cut stems so they rotted down into the ground. I am supposed to be an environmentalist but I often would also use a chemical weedkiller. the ones with glyphosate are better as they kill the roots too not like weedol which will kill off the growth but allow the roots to survive and re grow

That's a really good post Misi - I appreciate it.

I shan't bother with the compost idea then...my landlord has mentioned he has something licensed for farmers, can't remember what it's called but he says it kills brambles thoroughly. He's offered to come and apply that. I'm keeping the ones right at the end, in the wooded bit of garden as they seem to have loads of berries this summer, which is a real shame to waste.

May I ask how you shred them? I've been cutting quite small and then heaping them up but they do need to go really as there are huge heaps everywhere and they are sharp for the boys. Also I find if I leave them to brown up, they drop tiny spiky leaf bits everywhere and I find it hard to make safe the ground where they've been iyswim.

I quite enjoy the hacking though

I use a garden shredder. my 2 sisters and I bought one between us and we share it around and help each other out using it etc. about £100 so £33 each but we shred a lot of other garden waste too

Ooh! I want one!

my neighbours might not like me much though, is it really noisy?

mines not too noisy. some can be but others are not, just check the Db (decibell) rating on the machine. mines a bosch that does up to 40mm thick branches but others only do 25mm which is enough for most garden waste. heres one I saw earlier!! in B+Q with £20 off, but shop around, there are some right bargains out there at the moment!!

www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=9786982&fh_view_si ze=6&fhlocation=%2f%2fcatalog01%2fenGB&fhsearch=shredders&fheds=%c3%9f&fh_refview=search&ts=1217 444974891&isSearch=true

Wow, thanks so much! I wonder if they open all night...

oh dear now its dark, you could go out and set fire to the brambles and dance around the flames???????

Oh I would, believe me, if I didn't think it would cause another 'bits of glowing ash floating everywhere' scenario!

Fires are great fun aren't they - just maybe next time I might use a sieve over the hole to stop bits blowing about.

The brambles seem to have shrunk overnight, which is good really.

Thanks for all your helpful advice

yes, flames/fires are fun