This is how I hid my wheelie bins in my tiny front garden, and it's super easy to do – plus I've found these alternative solutions for every space
These clever ideas keep these household essentials out of sight
Household recycling has become part of our daily routine, sorting and separating glass, plastics, paper and waste into different crates and bins. But while the sorting part is pretty simple, the problem of where to store everything before rubbish collection day rolls around can be a challenge.
Living in a terraced house with no side access to the back garden means that everything has to be stored in our tiny front garden. And with a large wheelie bin and various crates to make room for because of the latest recycling rules, there’s very little space to hide any of it… and it pains me every time I step outside the front door.
But determined not to let the wheelie bin completely dominate the space, I’ve come up with an easy cover-up that hasn’t cost me a fortune, together with some clever buys and easy garden ideas that will also help tackle the problem, including stylish wheelie bin storage ideas.
1. Hiding my bins with strategically-placed planters
With one large, tall wheelie bin and a couple of recycling crates that need to be stored in our small front garden, it has meant that they are always on show to passersby…which I hate (swipe to see the problem).
Tucking them up against the ivy-covered side fence makes the bin and crates feel a bit less visible from the road, and by gradually training the ivy along the front wall, it has created a corner of greenery that I can then tuck the wheelie bin into. Then, by placing a large planter with taller greenery just in front, the wheelie bin definitely feels a bit less ‘on show’.
To tackle the problem of the recycling crates, I then positioned a couple of lower planters around them, with colourful bedding plants and a few tall alliums so that the eyes are drawn to these (rather than the crates at the back). And covering the crates with wooden lids also helps to camouflage them a bit.
And lastly, because the wheelie bin and crates need to be pulled out and left kerbside on collection day, I’ve also gone for a lightweight wheeled planter (the circular one) that I can roll out of the way as needed.
A brilliant budget garden idea, for this I used a couple of mini castors, like these small fixed castors, £6.99 for 4, Amazon, and screwed them into the base of a lightweight plastic planter, like this Muddy Hands galvanised planter, £22.99, Amazon. Alternatively, you could always buy a planter on wheels, or a pot stand on wheels, £8.40, Dunelm, to rest an existing planter on.
2. Construct a cover-up
Alternatively, make use of your DIY skills and put together a custom-built cover-up or garden storage cupboard that can house the wheelie bin and recycling boxes so they’re hidden away from sight.
If you’re fairly DIY savvy, then constructing a simple timber framework shouldn’t be too tricky; it’s just a matter of adding a hinged door and cladding the exterior with wooden slats, panelling or shiplap cladding, from £11.97, B&Q. Choose a colour that complements your front garden and finish with garden paint or stain.
Alternatively, flat-pack bin stores are another easy option that is fairly straightforward to put together and are available in different sizes and configurations to suit the type and size of bins and boxes to be stored.
Shop for bin stores
3. Disguise with a green roof
This purpose-built bin store with green roof is by Fenton Roberts Garden Design
Whether you’ve constructed your own bin store or gone for a purpose-built design, adding a green roof on top is an aesthetic upgrade that will make it more of a garden feature and help it blend more beautifully with the surroundings.
Adding a green roof involves creating a frame on top of your bin store and covering the surface with waterproof membrane, soil and gravel before planting up with low-maintenance plants like sedums, grasses and moss.
You can buy sedum matting to cut to size, like this fully-grown sedum carpet, £25.80, from Sedum Supply, or invest in a green roof kit, like this sedum flat roof kit, from £52.18 per sq m, Turf Online, which will provide all the essentials needed.
For a purpose-built bin store with a plantable top, try the double wheelie bin cover, £399.99, B&Q.
4. Create a mini wildlife garden
If you’re really keen to go green, then a wildlife-friendly garden idea like this open-sided bin store looks fabulous and is a great way of attracting pollinators to your front garden space. With a sturdy wood and metal frame, the BinDock Double, £850, from the Front Yard Company, has a lush green roof on top plus space underneath for two wheelie bins to be slotted in.
In addition to the green roof, the bin store also incorporates integral planters with wires on each side for growing climbing plants, as well as wooden bee nesting posts at each end that provide a place for bees to nest.
5. Conceal behind a screen
For a simple way of hiding your wheelie bin and recycling crates that involves minimal DIY, a simple trellis garden screen is an easy option worth considering. Depending on the size and shape of your front garden, you’ll need to buy a length of basic wooden trellis, like this pine trellis panel, from £37, B&Q, together with a couple of support posts to go at either end.
Keep the design basic, with a single trellis screen like this expanding trellis, £24.95 at Amazon, that spans the bin area, or construct a folding screen by adding hinges to two or more lengths of trellis, like these chrome hinges, £4.50 for two, Screwfix, which will give you more flexibility when positioning the screen around the bins.
Shop for garden screens
6. Camouflage with climbing greenery
Let nature lend a hand by training climbing foliage and flowers to create a colourful and fragrant cover-up for recycling bins and crates. If your front garden has an open picket-style fence or trellis screen, then climbing flowers and foliage like evergreen Star Jasmine, £19.95 for a 2L pot from QVC, make great natural camouflage that will detract from anything stored behind it.
Alternatively, growing a hedge in the front garden is another option that will provide more dense budget screening to help conceal a bin area. And by choosing a fast-growing hedge, you’ll ensure that you won’t have to wait too long for coverage.
Is your wheelie bin and recycling an eyesore? How do you tackle the problem... let us know.
