Hellooooooooo!

[Mochamoo]

Hiya,

I'm training to be a gardener Everytime I google questions this site comes up so thought I would join.

I'm just about to start a project for a local charity making a kitchen garden and I need to get as much as I possibly can for free (easier said than done)

Does anyone know where I could get the following for free ??? (I'm in Berkshire)

Greenhouse and Shed
garden tools
Lawn mowers
Timber (to make raised beds)
Buckets
Water Butts
Wooden Pallets (to make compost bins)
Plants / Bulbs / Seeds (or plant cuttings)
Pond Liner
Old carpet
manure x 5 tonnes


all ideas appreciated

Going to go nose around the site now

[Pumpkin Becki]

Hi and welcome to the Vine, we give our advice freely and accept it gratefully here. Glad you could join us. For the future, it would be worth including your location in your profile, it helps us when answering some types of question, particularly climate based ones.

Have you tried Freecycle for the bits you are looking for, or your local FreeAds newspaper might have something? You'd be amazed what people chuck out!

[OllieMartin]

Welcome to the Vine.

I'll echo everything PB said. Check freecycle and the papers. For information there's no better, friendly or free-er place than our beloved Grapevine.

[piskieinboots]

.... Everytime I google questions this site comes up so thought I would join

ah ha, so the catch net works then! Well done Ben*

Welcome Mochamoo

*Ben was an Adminer on the site and, sadly, left us back in December last year, google was his thaing

[enrich100]

Hi Mochamoo

as said before alot of the items can be got from freecycle
however a bit of lateral thinking also helps

if you want manure speak to a local farmer, manure is a waste product so usually they wont mind you taking any

and the same with water butt
dairy farms get cleaning chemicals in large blue containers these can easily be converted into water butts admittedly you will have to rince out the contents (usually a bleaching agent)

pallets, if you see a building site talk to the site manager, at worst they will give you broken pallets at best they will phone you to get rid of them as some builders just skip them


plants seed cutting's as its for charity, get the local press involved most local newspapers like the local people help charity stories you could make the request for seed's bulbs via the press the charity may have a press officer who could help you do this

if you need manpower think about asking The Local Young Farmers (remember they will have the manure and possibly may be able to lay there hands on some or all of the equipment you are looking for) again they usually like a little good publicity

I managed to get roof timbers from a house that was being demolished for my raised beds


buckets if the bucket are for growing things in Morrisons do 8 flower buckets for 99p (yes i know they are not free but it cheap as)

Morrisons offer community projects equipment as do most supermarkets

B&Q have in the past offered community grants up to £500 of equipment,
and im sure the other offer some funding towards community projects

if the community will benefit from the project a parish or town council may have some funding

its simply a case of if you don't ask you don't get

hope this helps

Neil