Other peoples rubbish.

[greenishfing]

I 've read a couple of posts lately which involve things left on plots by previous tenants. They've made me smile. My husband likes nothing more than salvaging other peoples rubbish and reusing it. We once bought a secondhand shed ( and contents). Even now,years later my husband will say "Do you remember where this came from?" pointing at something he's repurposed from the shed. I also once bought 2 secondhand greenhouses with staging ( and contents) without viewing. My sister helped me move them. She took home pounds and pounds of healthy, solid onions that were under the staging. We shared the hundreds of plant pots..
Has anyone else had any useful "bonuses" when they've bought or inherited something?

[bikermike]

I inherited the contents of the shed when I got the allotment.
I inherited some axle stands when I bought the house.

From my in-laws (who are diligent home-improvers), I have a cabinet freezer (which just fitted in my parents car, which entailed me going from my house to my parents house to the in-laws to my house to my parents house to home again), and an old sink (which I am going to install at the allotment, using some angle iron I lifted out of a skip on the plot.

In my old flat, the block had a set of skips which I used to pilfer from, but my old garage had woodworm and damp so I left it all behind.

[veggiechicken]

Turning this on its head, I've left things for new people to find.

In the rough stone garden walls of a cottage I used to own, I used to secrete little ornaments, model soldiers, shells and glass birds. The sort of stuff you find in Chr******* Crackers. It always made me chuckle when I'd come across something hidden so I left them all there for the new owners to find. I hope it make them chuckle too - although the rubber snake may not.

[ESBkevin]

I will do a bit of skip diving if something attracts me, in reality we're usually away from home when I see something appealing and Carol won't let me squeeze it in the car beside the suitcases!

I do collect heavy metal items that other people have left out when I've amassed some at home and want to make up a load to sell at the recyclers.

I take home sheets of cardboard and used pallets from work when I can use them.

[SarrissUK]

At home - I re-use Ikea bags as grow bags (and they're far superior to the piddly little things you buy in the shops), a wall-mounted shoe pocket type thing for growing strawberries, and my glass/aluminium greenhouse was a freebie from someone at work. All my tools apart from scoops and my electric strimmer are bought second hand. The garden wall was built with bricks entirely free off someone on FB. As a garden wall topper, I have sleepers that were very lost cost too.

On the allotment, I got a shed full of freebies, which included fertiliser, a toolbox with still some decent tools in, quite a few pots, a polytunnel frame, 90 foot of various types of netting, a big metal drum, and a whole shed full of turkey poop (only on the floor, not the whole shed haha)
On the abandoned plot next door, I scavenged the knackered poly-greenhouse with missing panels and no door, but someone has to love it, right? More really lovely pots of all kinds, ceramic ones too, greenhouse staging, daleks, a raspberry plant, chicken wire and a few pallets.

I have had no end of cardboard free from a farm shop, no end of horse manure from several stables, and I'm often found nicking cardboard out of people's recycling, and stuff out of skips (with permission, of course). I love a scavenge, and to repurpose something that others see as useless or old and knackered

[SarrissUK]

Oh and a free 16 foot trampoline which will end up being another little polytunnel one day, when I get to it!

[muck lover]

Using discarded items makes y’all ecowarriers.
I’m thrifty getting garden items for ridiculously low prices at auctions. It’s so satisfying.

[MillieBee2]

I still have some of the furniture my house's previous owners left behind, 14 years ago! On my plot I have a shed with some things in, plenty of wood I'll be using, and a nice metal watering can.

I'll regularly hunt round back streets for anything useful!

[Greenleaves]

My first plot came with about 6 terracotta ornate chimney pots and two large Belfast sinks....sold the lot for £300.