Dear Customers

As we find ourselves smack bam in the middle of June, we were fascinated to see that the earlier trend we have seen with COVID-19 restrictions of residents beautifying their homes during isolation is continuing.  However what's even more interesting, it is continuing in people's gardens, which translates into Skip Bin Hire for Soil, Green Waste and our Landscaping Waste Materials.  Here's the latest trends according to our customers and Australian Leading Landscaping authorities:

Use Native Plants In Your Landscaping

According to Phillip Withers of Phillip Withers Landscape Design, native plants are naturally more suited to their natural habitat and will spare the busy gardeners a lot of time & resources looking after their gardens.  His approach is that if we use plants that are native, they’ll react, thrive and regenerate in their natural environment with less human intervention. “Some of these plants are trained to survive solely on rainfall,” he says. “It’s as simple as it gets and a beautiful thing because it means we use less water.”

As we naturally get enough of rainfall during winter in Melbourne, the above strategy makes sense.  It is very similar to the health food advise of eating fruits and veggies, which are in season, as they are both most nutritious and most price economical at that point of time.

The COVID-19 isolation routine has allowed a lot of our Melbourne Customers to re-think their garden design and hence we first have seen a lot of skip bins being hired for initial clean up of the garden, following by skip bins for old clay, soil and unwanted green waste.

Don't Ignore Your Garden During Winter

While it is cold & gloomy and demotivating to go outside and work on your garden, it will have big rewards for your garden in spring.  According to our Landscaping Customer, Spruce Landscaping, there are a number of things you can do in your garden in winter, including but not limited to:

• pruning  - this is a necessary job, which should be on the "to do" list of every gardener in winter.  Pruning your plants in winter will pay big dividents in spring
• fertilising and mulching - is very important for the soil during the cold winter months.  By fertilising your soil - you assist your plants with having access to much needed nutrients during harsh weather conditions.  Mulching comes straigh after fertilising and basically provides an additional layer of protection for your plant beds, it can be in a form of animal manure, wood chips or even leaves from your garden
• planting - surprisingly enough, planting is not only for spring but certain plants should be planted in winter, one example being evergreens.  Evergreens look absolutely fabulous in winter and will provide a break to the grey and dull outlook to your garden.
• clean up your garden from leaves and dying plants - this is very important, as not only the look of dying plants does nothing to your garden design but it provides a breeding ground for bacteria and other insects, which will attract them to your healthy plants.

What Size Skip Bin Do I Need For My Garden Project

As your project unfolds, you will realise that you will accumulate various types of waste materials, which you need to dispose of.  Depending on the stage of your gardening or landscaping project and also depending on the scope of your project, the bin sizes requirements might vary along the way.  For example:

• a small garden revamp, which might include disposal of some old, dead plants, some old pots, a bit of soil and maybe some small tree branches, might all easily fit into our smallest mini-skip of 2 cubic meters.
• a larger type of project, which might involve shed demolition, removal of some large items like concrete pavers, rocks, etc might warrant anywhere between 3 and 6 cubic meters bins.  We recommmend to jump onto our Bin Sizes page to visually estimate the right size bin for you or by simply giving our friendly team a call on 1300 605 624 Monday to Saturday and we will answer all your questions and help you select the right size bin for your project.
• depending on the type of waste, being removed from your garden, some bins might be more suitable than others.  For example, while the range of our skip bins goes all the way up to 31 cubic meters bulk bins, if you are disposing of heavy materials, such as Soil, Bricks, Concrete, we recommend to only go up to 10 cubic meters bins for this type of waste.  There are certain limitations of what VIC ROADS are allowing trucks to carry on public roads in terms of weight and also anything above 10 cubic meters of very heavy materials can damage the truck itself.

Where Do I Place the Bin For My Garden or Landscaping Project

While it is always preferrably to have the bin positioned as close as possible to where you stock pile your waste, you need to consider the size of the bin and what goes inside the bin, to ensure that bin is not too heavy for your driveway.  In particular, if your driveway is relatively new or an aggrigated concrete, we would suggest to only place small size bins there and still provide a layer of protection between the driveway and the bin, such as a few pieces of timber to place the bin on or some layers of flattened cardboard.

On another spectrum, if your project is requiring a large 10 cubic meters bin, which will be filled with soil, concrete, bricks and / or other heavy materials, this type of bin has the propensity to damage your driveway and we would strongly encourage to discuss with us obtaining a council permit and placing a bin on the road instead, to ensure that your driveway is intact.  Obtaining a council permit is a matter of minutes for us, as we are registered with most city councils in Melbourne, the fee varies from council to council however it is nothing, compared to the potential fee of repairing your driveway.  We always err on the side of caution and encourage our customers to obtain a permit in favour of keeping your new driveway nice and secure.

We wishing you all the best with your winter gardening project and enourage you to give us a call on 1300 605 624 Monday to Saturday to answer any questions you might have in regards to waste disposal from your Garden, we will be able to assist with correct bin size and choosing the correct waste type and of cause we'll also be able to obtain a council permit if you will require one.  Until then!