Everywhere I seem to go
Be it somewhere high or somewhere low
it’s like one of the seven deadly sins
It’s the invasion of the wheelie bins
Extract from ‘Invasion Of The Wheelie Bins’
Yes, we all recycle these days and we have multiple wheelie bins to make this possible. However, they are pretty ugly and certainly don’t improve the look of our homes or garden. If you are lucky you will have a small corner in which you can tuck these ugly great lumps out of view. However, most of us won’t be this lucky. So what can you do to hide your wheelie bins? It is a simple DIY job to screen your wheelie bins and there are several ways to do it from a simple screen to the more advanced option of building a wheelie bin storage unit or chest, you can even have planters built-in. If this all seems to difficult for your DIY skill set you can buy a ready-made wheelie bin store. There are lots of options so you can choose the right size for the number of wheelie bins you have, you can even add things like planters to make them look really pretty.
Wheelie Bin Plant Screen
The simplest option is to plant a small hedge in front of your wheelie bins. You will need to choose your plants carefully. Ideally, the plant needs to be evergreen so there is an effective screen at all times of the year. You want it to grow high enough to block the wheelie bins but not too wide as you need to have room to access the bins and manoeuvre them when the bin people come. If you do choose a wide growing plant it needs to be able to tolerate a good cut back as you will need to trim it to maintain access. Don’t choose anything prickly like a holly as you will probably find you injure yourself when you are manoeuvring your bins. Here are some good plants to choose;
1) Thuja. This great evergreen coniferous plant is used for dense easy-care hedges all over the world. Have a read here about how to plant a Thuja hedge.
2) Pittosporum is a good evergreen choice for those of you who don’t like the look or smell of conifer like Thuja. They have lovely oval, glossy dark leaves. There are lots of varieties so you can choose one with a particular characteristic that you like; Pittosporum tobira has scented flowers, ‘Tom Thumb’ purple foliage or ‘Irene Paterson’ for silver leaves.
3) Osmanthus delavayi is another non-coniferous option. It is low maintenance and has glossy green leaves but best of all in spring it is covered in lovely smelling little white flowers which are bee-friendly.
4) Living Willow Fence. Willow is not evergreen however it can be grown thickly so the branches will provide effective screening even in Winter. Ultra-low maintenance and very compact for spaces where you have little width – a living willow fence is a great solution. Have a read here about how to plant and keep one.
5) Hornbeam and beech. We think an evergreen hedge is best but the multiple intertwining branches of other plant species can provide an effective screen even without leaves. We already discussed Willow but other good options are Hornbeam and Beech.
Wheelie Bin Screen
If your bins are on concrete, very little soil or the conditions are too difficult for plants you can construct an artificial screen. A simple option is to put a fence panel or two in front of the bins. You will need to concrete in the posts and then just slot the fence panels in place. Here is a video that illustrates the basic steps;
You can paint fence panels any colour you want. Instead of using fence panels, you can use a trellis or woven willow panels, this provides a more interesting finish. All these panels can be used as as a support for climbing plants like roses and clematis which can provide some additional colour and attractive fragrance. This downloadable pdf is handy to print off as it takes you through the steps needed to put fence posts in place properly – there are more than one type of post and this pdf explains the installation differences.
Wheelie Bin Storage Unit
If your carpentry skills are more advanced you can build an enclosed storage unit for your wheelie bins. Here are a couple of ways to do it.
You don’t need many tools – just a decent drill and wood cutting tool. The material requirements are pretty light too especially if you have a source of reclaimed wood or pallets. Make sure the posts and frame are made of good quality wood as replacing them will be hard. You can fill the sides and top with older or cheaper wood and replace it periodically with relative ease. Again you don’t need to fill the frame with solid wood you can use trellis, woven wicker or quite widely spaced wood cladding.
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