Between fall and winter, you probably end up with a lot of yard waste: spent plants, dead leaves, downed branches.

For a lot of people, some of it likely ends up in the compost pile and the rest gets dumped in the green waste can for recycling because, well, this kind of stuff quickly adds up!

But with a bit of practical and/or creative reuse, you can actually keep all (or most) of your yard waste on your property and have it benefit your garden—without becoming too much of an eyesore.

I've found that doing so often results in less work at the end and beginning of each season because you don't have to rake/bag everything up, haul straw bales around the garden or drag multiple cans of yard trimmings out to the curb.

This is what I do throughout the year in my own garden—and you can follow some of my ideas for repurposing your own yard waste too.

(It goes beyond composting!)

I should add that it's best to only repurpose plant trimmings that are free of severe pest damage or diseases. You don't want to inadvertently spread them around the yard! Infested or diseased plant debris should always be trashed unless you maintain a hot compost pile that heats up enough to eliminate eggs/larvae and pathogens.