All of those prunings can be used directly on the garden as mulch – saves trying to break it down or add it to the compost!

The big prunings may not be what we are used to seeing in our gardens, but they are very good for muclhing trees:

• like all mulch, they reduce water evaporation and loss from the soil
• the prunings also shade the soil and roots
• being large, they make it harder for chooks, birds and other animals reaching the root area and scratching away your soil
• they will slowly break down to provide nutrients for the soil and trees

However, if the prunings are too dry, they could provide a fire risk in dry periods so this is better done in Autumn than spring…