Second-hand items re-purposed in the garden.

[nickdub]

As some will have gathered I have a large "thrifty" (OK mean) component in my make-up. I also like old things, particularly tools and books.

Yesterday a new Ebay purchase arrived at the cottage - a cast iron glue-pot. Its a woodworkers' bain-marie for melting glue :-) . I got mine a little cheaper than average, mainly I think because there was some solid glue still in the inner pot ( more re-use potential for me).


Anyway for those puzzling on what I'm up to, I reckon it will be just the thing for melting bees-wax which I use around this time of year, if I have any grafting I want to do - sealing the cut and bound surface of the grafts.

So what old items have you got which are now pressed in to a new function in your gardens ?

[goosander]

Just myself.
Bob

[Jimmy]

Well I have some old hoes from my father which are still in use.
Also he worked at British Aerospace when he was alive.
He hated to see things thrown out and often bought stuff cheap.
He got a job lot of the huge lamp shades from the hangers.
Metal things enameled , green on top and white underneath.
I still have one and use it as a large plant pot for daffodils.
Suppose it will eventually corrode.

Other things he had were
6 spin dryer motors ( You never know when you might need one lad )
6 red oil cans.
A huge chest of large taper drills, but no stand drill to use them in. We gave them to a school when we cleared out the garage.

Jimmy

[nickdub]

I'm hoping you're still alive, but I suppose being buried in the veg plot would count :-)

[Lumpy]

Tyres and storage box for a frog friendly pond.

[nickdub]

I'm officially envious - you'd better pad-lock your shed, if I ever track you down :-)

[Snoop Puss]

My cold frames are all repurposed items. Assorted wooden chests and crates with car windows for the glass. All gathered from the local tip by Mr Snoop. Other things: pallets taken apart and turned into a bench. Assorted bits of metal and plastic fencing, also from the tip, used as a climbing support for peas. We also have rather a lot of tyres, but I haven't been allowed to use them for anything.

Actual purchases: 250-litre barrels used for exporting olives, returned to source and now repurposed as water butts (2 euros a shot). Smaller plastic barrels, possibly used for shipping gherkins, now repurposed as storage for tools, fertiliser, etc., also 2 euros apiece.

[veggiechicken]

My favourite is my trampoline frame from Freecycle.
Its been a keyhole bed, chicken run and now its a seat around an oak tree.

https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...ase_67800.html (No photos but some interesting suggestions!)

There's a photo here https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...bed_95046.html

[lottie dolly]

lots off blue barrells,some for water some cut shorter for lage pots,flexable pipe for connecting buts,blue and yellow pipe,for hoops,debrie netting,wood that built the grow barn together with double glazed window units,also a large walk in netted brasica cage,old shed fashioned into chicken coop and run,my home shed MR built for me complete with sliding patio door,planks used for raised beds,and cut up to make smaller frame work to support loganberry and grape vines,more wood and windows for lotty shed extension,plastic window box's from a skip,big plastc sheets from peeps old car ports,pots from others chuckouts,palets for fencing,free slabs,still got a JALO my uncle used,there have been more like matresses from old caravan and old curtains now used in our lotty home with an old 2 burner grill for pleasure,if it has another use then use it.

[nickdub]

I read about someone who had cadged several trampoline frames and cut them in half to use as part of his poly-tunnel support frame - extreme kudos for lateral thinking and practical ingenuity.

[bikermike]

I am a confirmed hoarder/recycler)

I re-use lots of black plastic supermarket meat packets as tubs (all my strawbs are in them), and if you mix and match with clear plastic ones from other supermarkets, you can make mini propagators. My outdoor toms grow in old 10l emulsion pots

I have a bunch of timber that was for my parents' balcony (that was rejected) to make raised bed walls out of, and the slabs from their patio are now paths at the plot.

I broke a hoe and sharpened the end to use as a long-range weed-pokey-stick (to get at the bramble growing in the narrow gap between greenhouse and fence).

The biggest one was my toolbox for racing, which was an ex-hospital crash trolley - great big metal thing on castors, complete with an oxygen bottle holder on the end suitable to hold my fire extinguisher. Thrown out as impossible to sterilise after a certain number of uses. It was pretty worn, and died after a few seasons (although I still have the drawer boxes). (when I get a circular tuit, I am going to make a coat rack out of bent bits of bike destroyed when racing).

One of the hooks holding the small person's bicycle is part of an old lawnmower.

I am hopeful of acquiring parents-in-law old sink, which will make a great veg cleaning table (as there is marestail on the plot, I try to remove all surplus outer leaves etc and mud at the plot rather than risk contaminating my compost and garden). I think there is still some deck planking at my parents to use to build the frame for it.

[jonahjonah]

Lots of recycling and always on the lookout for items to be repurposed.

Almost all of my seedlings are in pots scavenged from the allotment (previous tenant left LOTS) or recycled things from the house (meat packets, yogurt pots, toilet roll tubes, etc). They're currently on the lids to big plastic storage containers (temporarily repurposed).

Will be using old shed parts to build fruit covers and plant supports. Random bamboo canes and other bits of wood that we inherited when we bought the house will be put to similar use.

Most of my mulch is plain cardboard.

I broke a garden fork earlier this year. The metal collar of the fork broke, so the handle is intact. I'm pondering its best future use (handle, not fork).

[Snoop Puss]

^Use shaft for making deep holes for leeks?

[jonahjonah]

^Use shaft for making deep holes for leeks?

It would be truly excellent for that purpose. But I have promised to stop buying seeds...

[nickdub]

Small leek plants are available to by later in the year ....