Burning garden waste

Hi. I have never made a bonfire before and im a bit( a lot) wary.

What is the best way to do it. Ive not got anything to burn it in only a wheelbarrow.

Any ideas of something I can burn it in, possible free?

What must I not burn? I understand that everything has to be dry?

 

What happened? I was replying to a post and that and my reply disappeared as I hit post ??

 

First of all I would check with your council that you are allowed to have a fire in your garden. I am not joking, some councils do not allow it, and you can end up being fined. I am told my local council "turn a blind eye" on November the 5th simply because they can not keep up with the amount of fires. (mate got a visit from council when it wasn't Nov 5th)

Assuming you can have a fire, a wheel barrow is not good since air can't get in at the sides, the wheelbarrow will not survive. I would be inclined to pile the material on the ground in a "conical shape" easy to burn stuff in the middle surrounded by harder stuff. eg paper grass in middle old wood around the outside.

Never put on old plastics or rubber (smokes a lot) and NEVER use any flammable liquid to start the fire.

Ideally you should have a hose nearby so that when its all burnt you can "damp it down"
Oh and always stand down wind, otherwise you will smell of smoke.

(I re wrote my post and changed the county)

 

Most councils don't like it but they don't stop you doing it as there isn't a law to stop you. As long as you are not burning anything that causes to much smoke ( or burning anything hazardous) and not doing it in the wind then its OK and they cant do anything.

Do you think I should do it on the grass? I have some slabs that I could put on the grass I could build it on them, would that be better?

Yes hosepipe will be at the ready (if im brave enough to do it)

 

Any slabs you use may split due to the heat, also as fires burn they spread out (The burnt material no longer supports itself) so I would not bother. Unless its a really big fire, just burn it on the grass.

 

If you are going to do it, it's advisable to forewarn your neighbours in case they have washing on the line.

 

Tell me about it !!!!

One of my old houses the guy next door used to dig a pit about 3 feet deep , fill with anything he could get his hands on (old school)
and it would burn for days or should I say smoulder , and would do this in August and when sunny !!! Talk about stink
I used to get the hose pipe out late at night and put it out.
I darnt ask, as we fell out as I caught him on a lader leaning over my frence tryng to cut my cherry tree branches off that wernt even growing over the fence !!!
As it was shading his garden

So do everyone a favour and reycle or take down the tip


Spruce

 

I would not do it without warning and I would not do it in the daytime either, unless a very dull day .

Ive just ordered a cage for garden burning and will use it as a composter as well. Got a bit worried about doing it just on the ground. :o

 

Some people just don't have the transport to take it to the tip, my car does not hold much and the tip is over 15 miles away. I don't have the money to get garden clearance .
Not everyone is a selfish neighbour!

 

Last time I saw some one try that the barrow tyre caught fire!

 

no probs to burn it on the ground ....

do it on a clear day with no wind ... tell your neighbours to close their windows and remove their washing from the washing line

buy a box of firelighters (the best ones are the ones that are individually wrapped in plastic).... do not use petrol or diesel!

choose an open area away from walls and away your other garden plants ....

light 3-4 firelighters and add small branches first .... let the branches burn, then gradually add more stuff ontop, and even green stuff will burn if the flames are big enough

I recently chopped down a huge fig tree for a client and burned the whole lot .... took about 4 hours to burn it

done it on the back garden lawn, as there was no where else that was safe to burn it

a few days later, spread the ashes over the lawn with a rake, tilled the soil where the fire had ruined the lawn and planted grass seed in the bare patch

a few weeks later, the grass was much greener where the fire was .... so perhaps the grass enjoys a good dose of ash from time to time?

rectified the problem by applying a high nitrogen based lawn feed on the entire lawn

 

Hahahaha :D

 

Thank you very much for this.
I am going to have to do the lawn anyway as its mostly weed. But I have got a basket burner thing now and will do it on that over the lawn :D

I would not do it on a day my neighbour has washing out, I will do it late afternoon early evening but I will tell her im doing it.

 

Hi Kizzie, I don't know whether the law still exists but a number of years ago garden fires couldn't be lit until after sunset.

You could by an incinerator, it's like a dustbin with a lid on and a pipe on top to let the smoke out. At least it would keep everything contained. They are reasonably cheap to by also.

 

I have bonfires but try to limit them to about three a year, usually in Autumn winter or early spring.
I dont have them in summer, as even during the evenings, most people have doors and windows open.

I just burn it on the ground, but you need quite a bit of space to do that.