Re-purposing Junk

[nickdub]

Bit chuffed with myself for having converted an old 2L plastic fuel additive bottle into a small long spouted watering can (it has a sort of concertina flexible spout and had been put in the bin at a petrol station). The additional plus is that as it's transparent I can add blue fertiliser powder to the water in it and see how much of a stir it needs to be mixed properly.

Of course most of us probably use various plastic containers as seed trays and/or flower pots. Also, I know some people like me re-use old pallets to make seed trays or wooden boxes for fruit. But has anyone-else got anything they re-purposed which is a little out of the ordinary ?

Happy gardening :-)

[Aberdeenplotter]

I've been showing the locals how to make compost scoops out of plastic milk bottles. Very easy done with only a small pair of scissors

[Containergardener]

^^^oh I need to make one of those

[happyhumph]

We have two very large blue plastic drums - about 3 1/2 feet tall. These are going to be repurposed to house the 100 strawberry plants I've got coming next week as giant planters! Photos to follow if I can manage to upload....

[Aberdeenplotter]

Today I surpassed myself. I've run out of throwaway seed trays and still had some cauli seedlings to prick out for the local seedbank. I took a 5ltr windscreen washer fluid bottle, cut it down the middle of each side to separate the front from the back. Drilled some drainage holes and weyhey two new throwaway seed trays

[Containergardener]

I'm now reusing my soda (as in wine and soda ) bottles as little cloche .
Also made above scoop for my compost .

[Bonjour]

I have been known to use 2 litre pop bottles with the bottom cut off and cap removed as mini-cloche/wind protection for newly set-out sweetcorn.

Oh, and old CDs on string as bird scarers (wich they are rubbish for).

[Plot70]

2L milk bottles also work as single cutting growers.
I cut 3 sides of a square and pull the bit open like a door and fill the bottom up to the sill of the little door with pebbles and add compost above so that there is a store of water in the bottom.
If the cutting grows out of the top the bottle becomes brittle enough that it can just be snapped away at the end of the year when planting out is due.

[muckdiva]

Plant labels from an old split bamboo fence that was destined for the tip. They are easy to cut to size with secateurs.

[ESBkevin]

We make our plant labels from yogurt pots. Just snip down the side into strips (with some sturdy scissors).
Larger milk containers are used to contain ready to use compost tea etc. We don't get many because we have bottles delivered.

[nickdub]

I make a few longer lasting labels out of small pieces of roofing slate to go on things like fruit trees or soft fruit bushes which have a 20+ year life expectancy. I cut or break the slate into longish pieces, drill a hole in one corner (don't press to hard, else it may crack). Then I incise the name into the slate using the point of a knife or a large nail (using a small dremmel tool would be neater I guess, but I can never be bothered). Finally, I use some copper wire from old electric cable to attach the label to a small branch or a peg if it's a fruit bush - please don't label big branches like this, as with growth ultimately the wire may kill a branch which grows bigger than the hole available to it.

A bit of work, but I reckon each label is good for 50 years so. Any gardener who comes after me I hope will get the benefit and think of the now dead old bloke who put the labels there.

PS If you have an orchard with a lot of trees another method which I may or may not get round to, would be to do a sketch map of it with a key to the list of variates - put that in a clear plastic bag and pin it to the inside of your tool shed door. An apple tree is not just for Christams its for life+

Happy gardening :-)