As the days get a little darker and a lot colder, the smell of autumn comes alive. From the earthy, musty smell of nature to the smoky smell of your log burner, we are constantly surrounded by the incredible aromas of this wonderful season. It’s not hard to say goodbye to those sun-drenched days of summer, unless of course, you’re saying hello to massive piles of garden waste that have built up in your yard!

Autumn might be your favourite time of year, but did you know that your lawn shares the sentiment?! After the intense heat and dryness of a Kiwi summer, your lawn uses the cool autumn days to regenerate itself and prepare for winter. The sooner you tackle your garden waste, the better, as you the proper care will ensure a strong, green landscape in spring. We won’t let garden waste removal hinder your weekend skiing schedule – so let’s get to work on clearing your garden!

Work It

Preparing your garden and outdoor spaces in time for summer is the best way for you to be good to your yard and will help make it thrive over the warmer months. With just a few simple tasks, you’ll have a bigger and open space to enjoy – and the exercise will help too! We all know that most Kiwis do the bulk of their gardening in the spring and summer, but gardening in autumn is important too. As we garden less in the autumn, weeds, plants and bushes have a tendency to overgrow and run rampant. If you let this happen, all your hard work in the warmer months have gone to waste. Getting rid of all this garden waste will give you a clean canvas to work on, especially if you’re thinking about changing up your landscape in the spring.

Don’t be intimidated. Start with the following steps to get your garden into shape:

• Thin out overgrown plant life by trimming back plants along your footpath and steps
• Trim and shape your shrubs
• Cut branches off trees, shaping them as you go
• Weed your veggie garden, and turn the soil
• Weed your herb garden, and transplant your herbs into pots to use them over winter

Once you’ve completed trimming your overgrown vegetation, you’ll be amazed by the amount of garden waste on your hands. But it gets worse, because we haven’t even started on your lawn…

Grass Attack

Fact: the best way to keep your grass healthy through the autumn and winter is to keep cutting it. The best height for grass blades is about 2.5 inches. You should be mowing that lawn every two to four weeks, depending on your grass. Another thing you’ve got to watch out for is leaves. Make sure you rake up the build-up of leaves, because if you leave (pun intended) them lying around they’ll block out the sun your grass needs to stay healthy. Leaves make for great puns and for even greater mulch that will add valuable nutrients to your compost pile.

How Does your Garden Grow? Compost 101

One of the best ways of dealing with garden waste is to start composting in your garden, which not only helps your garden grow but it also helps Mother Nature. A garden compost bin is helpful for breaking down your garden waste and can help clear your kitchen waste. Another added bonus of composting is that it’ll help you reduce your use of water by about 25%. So, how do we make it happen?!

Making traditional compost is easy: it’s all about the layers. Layering helps compost reach the optimum nitrogen balance but use caution when you add layers of fine green plant wastes like grass clippings. Grass can mat easily which will then prevent water from moving through the mass during the composting process. When composting your woody plant prunings, try to create an equal balance of dry and green materials, including soil as it’s a great source of microbes which helps break down plants, leaves and stems. But don’t go crazy – large amounts of soil can suffocate microorganisms, so go easy on that dirt.

Getting Dirty: Setting up your Compost Bin

Knowing what to put in your compost is the best way to do it right. So let’s keep it simple by focusing on these two colours: green and brown.

Greens

Greens are composed of the wet and soft waste items such as:

• vegetable peelings
• fruit scraps
• grass cuttings
• weeds
• old plants
• coffee grounds
• teabags

Browns

Browns tend to be dry, hard things such as:

• cardboard
• vacuum cleaner contents
• twigs and branches
• sawdust
• pet droppings from vegetarian pets
• leaves

The best compost for your garden is a 50/50 mix of greens and browns. Not only does composting your yard waste recycle nutrients back into the yard but it also reduces your yard waste volume by 50 to 75 per cent. That said, as you’ve just read it’s not as easy as just throwing your garden waste in a pile and letting do its thing! It takes a lot of work, and if you don’t have that much time on your hands, then what you’re going to have is a lot of garden waste. Well, you’ve got options.

Garden Waste Removal

If you’re pressed for time, the last thing you want to be doing on the weekend is layering your garden waste to make compost. You might be in need of a service that will help you save time as well as your back (yes, composting can be back-breaking!) while also saving you cash.

Also, you might not have that ol’ “green thumb”, which will make composting even harder for those of us in Auckland who are less horticulturally inclined! While you may start composting with a gung-ho attitude, after you experience the demands of your compost, your enthusiasm might taper off, which isn’t all that bad, except for the mice, rats and bugs taking over your property. Of course, you could skip the hard work and just get a skip, but they’re more expensive than you think and you’ll also be contributing to the already heaving local landfill. Fear not, we’ve got the solution.

Junk2Go can handle your green waste removal, without any effort on your part other than signing up to our services. Our experts will come to your house and dispose of all of your green waste, whether it’s grass clippings, weeds, plants, leaves, or branches. And your conscience doesn’t need to worry either: we don’t waste your garden waste in landfills; we recycle it in our large composting sites here in Auckland, processing it naturally and turning it into beautiful and fertile compost.

So, while composting on your own could be a great, albeit a time consuming weekend project, why not leave it up to Auckland’s garden waste removal experts, leaving you with more time to spend with your friends and family in your beautiful yard? Call us today to hear more about how we can help you dispose of your Auckland garden waste this autumn. Remember, time is of the essence when it comes to caring for your garden. Let us take the worry and the work off your hands.

Additional Reading:

• Green waste composting – Guide about how to make compost from green waste.
• Composting guide – includes a video on garden composting.
• How to make green garden waste work for you – Guardian article on composting.