Garden clearance and green waste removal

What a clearance usually involves

Most clearances follow the same order. Brambles, nettles and rank growth come down first so the ground can be seen, then self seeded saplings and overgrown shrubs are cut out, then hedges are brought back to a sensible size. Only once the green material is gone does the state of the lawn, the beds, the paths and the fences become clear, and it is usually better than people feared.

The second half of the job is the rubbish. Old turf, broken paving, rotten decking, collapsed sheds, fence panels, bags of soil and the random contents of a neglected garden all have to be sorted and removed. Sorting as the work goes means less volume overall, since green waste and hardcore go to different places.

• Brambles, nettles, ivy and general overgrowth cut back and cleared
• Self seeded saplings and overgrown shrubs removed or cut to stumps
• Overgrown hedges reduced, with the arisings taken away
• Grass cut back and the lawn area recovered where there is one underneath
• Old turf, paving, decking, fence panels and garden rubbish removed

Overgrown plots, probate and end of tenancy

Gardens get away from people for ordinary reasons: illness, a move, a rental between tenants, or a probate property that has stood empty for a season or two. In each case the aim is usually the same, which is to get the plot back to a state where it can be sold, let, valued or simply used again, in one visit rather than over a summer of weekends.

Where a property is being sold or handed back, we can work to a deadline and to whatever standard the agent or the landlord has asked for. Where the garden is being kept, it is worth doing the clearance with the eventual plan in mind, so that the shrubs worth saving are not lost in the first hour.

Wildlife, nesting season and what is worth keeping

Overgrown gardens are good habitat, and the law recognises that. Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 it is an offence to intentionally damage or destroy an active nest, and brambles, ivy and dense shrubs are exactly where birds nest between March and August. Clearance in that window needs the growth checked before it is cut, and anything with an active nest left alone until the young have fledged.

Hedgehogs, slow worms and nesting bumblebees also turn up in log piles, compost heaps and long grass. Where the garden allows, leaving one rough corner, a log pile or a section of ivy on a back fence costs nothing and keeps some of the value the garden had. Not everything in an overgrown plot is a weed, and established shrubs are often worth cutting back rather than grubbing out.

Dealing with the waste

A full clearance generates far more volume than a garden looks like it holds. Woody material is chipped on site where there is room, which reduces a van load of brash to a few barrows. Soft green waste, soil, hardcore and general rubbish are separated so each goes to the right disposal route rather than everything going in one skip.

Householders have a duty of care over their own waste under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, which in practice means waste should only be handed to someone registered to carry it. It is entirely reasonable to ask anyone clearing a garden for their waste carrier details and where the material is going, and you should expect a straight answer.

What happens next

A cleared garden is a blank page rather than a finished job, and the state it is left in depends on what comes next. For a sale or a letting, cut back, tidy and swept is usually the target. For a garden you are keeping, it is worth going a step further and turning over the beds, killing off regrowth and getting the lawn back into condition.

Clearance often uncovers work that was hidden: a fence held up by the ivy that was pulling it over, a path under the grass, a dead tree in the back corner. We will point those out rather than quietly working around them, and they can be dealt with in the same visit or planned separately.