Branches and twigs and brush, oh my
April 21st, 2008 by 
Alica
What do you do with all the nature garbage on your lawn in the spring? I’m talking about fallen twigs, the dead grass left from last fall, and stuff like that.
I talked to one man who pays his garbage service more than $100 extra each year to haul it away.
I saw a neighbor yesterday raking her lawn. I know a lot of people do that each spring.
Should the city offer a spring brush day, similar to the fall leaf day, where people can bring their scrub and brush to a dumpster at a designated site? Would it be worth the cost to the city of doing that?
My father never raked in the spring. He said last year’s dead grass was a good insulator of this spring’s new grass as it broke through through the ground. Later, as the grass grew, you couldn’t see the old grass anyway, he said. He also didn’t like messing with leaves and twigs and branches, so he didn’t plant any trees on the property. He did think fir trees were ok. But not leafy trees that shed.
My husband has a mulch mower, so he never does any raking either. All the grass clippings get ground up and scattered on the lawn.
How do you handle things, though?
Posted in Uncategorized | 
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:16 am
It’s not the dead grass and the small twigs i have a problem getting rid of. The small twigs you can cut up and put in your paper bag with your grass clippings. It’s the larger branches that are harder to dispose of after trimming the trees to maintain them within the city regulations. I would like to see a city cleanup to dispose of old tires,appliances, etc. that are an eye sore and a health issue. Maybe this could be done two weeks after the city puts out their notice to trim trees. Have a commercial chipper in an empty lot to break down those larger tree limbs to be hauled away. Even smaller towns like Valley Springs, Freeman, Marion, do this for their residence..
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:54 am
That’s a great idea…if the homeowner doesn’t want the wood chips, can they be donated…? There really does need to be a city clean-up weekend (or 2) for non-hazardous disposables. What about things like paint cans & electronics?
April 23rd, 2008 at 9:22 am
Issue’s like that are not a topic for discussion in Brandon as all of our waste is taken to the Sioux Falls landfill. Its one of those problems we put off to the bigger city.
April 23rd, 2008 at 2:53 pm
It most certainly is an issue for discussion. Everything is open for discussion.
I love the idea of the wood chipper and would love to see a curbside junk pickup like Valley and SF have!
April 23rd, 2008 at 3:12 pm
I agree that curbside pick-up would be great. Even a site to drop off “junk” once a year would be nice. It is a long haul into SF and not everyone has a pick-up or trailer to haul with.
I also think a drop-off for branches, etc. would be great…..So many people just go into the country and dump their clippings, trimmings, etc.
April 24th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
So why should a home owner that takes care of his branches and his grass clippings, pay for others that want it done for free? I don’t want my tax dollars being used for this kind of a service for some and not for all. I take my recycled items in and take my wood to the landfill. I’m sure a neighbor or a relative has a pickup or trailer. I also think that Marv’s will pick up too. It’s the right thing to do!
April 25th, 2008 at 4:27 am
Not sure what you mean #6, I think they’re talking about a free service they’d like to see the city offer.
April 25th, 2008 at 10:42 am
It might be free to the users, but the city would have to pay for it. And the city gets its income from taxes. So ultimately the taxpayers would be paying for it.
April 26th, 2008 at 6:25 am
To #7. Alica is right. It is NOT FREE! Every tax payer in the the city would pay for it. I agree with #6. People think if the city does it, “it’s “free”! As the old saying goes….”There is no free lunch”.
April 26th, 2008 at 8:49 am
I agree with all that is being said here. It would be nice to have a place to bring clippings and tree branches, etc and have a small fee to use. With gas prices as high as they are getting those people that have to run clear to the west side of Sioux Falls with a truck to dispose of such I bet they would pay a small fee to use. Its no wonder use see all the thrash in the rural ditches.
April 26th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
We have the leaf drop off and there’s “no charge” for that. It would be a great community service and people would be more likely to comply with tree trimming and disposal if they had a place to get rid of it. There’s probably other things the city does that eventually costs us money, and at least this can be used by everyone.
May 12th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
I thought the leaf drop off was provided by Marv’s trash service - not the city. Maybe we should have a big community bonfire to get rid of all the branches.
May 12th, 2008 at 11:08 pm
The city hires Marv’s for the leaf drop-off day. Last fall it cost the city about $900.