The Great 'Re-use from the house into the garden' Hunt

Lord_Gardener

Old cd's strung up to scare those pigeon's away from your tender crops!

Wine corks as an alternative mulch under your potted specimen plants - works well with Acer's!!

Old cable flex as tree/shrub ties!

Caroline2CV

Makes a transportable container to add a dash of colour (if it still has the handle) once you have planted a fiery red abutilon or similar coloured plants.

Noah'strolly

looby-loo wrote:

I use a pastic lemonade bottle cut off at a 45 degree angle as a scoop for getting compost out of the compost bag - holds more than a trowel and doesn't spill over the sides

Great idea, you could do the same with milk cartons, than you'd have a handle!
I wanted a greenhouse for the allotment but didn't want to spend a lot of money. Then I saw the plastic hexagonal ones for £40 in wilkinsons and it gave me an idea. I got a new gazibo last summer so I took the frame from the old one and wrapped clear plastic sheet round it with gaffer tape. Time will tell if it holds as well as fitted covers would.:D

Caroline2CV

Make a few drainage holes - and if you have a yard with no soil it could get you started.

Caroline2CV

One more for the old tights: If you have a container with a lid that

1. holds water
2. far enough away not to smell any 'pong'

stuff the tights with

1. comfrey leaves
2. nettles
3. manure
   
   and for other garden materials that you can use http://www.pfaf.org/database/search_use.php?K%5B%5D=Liquid%20feed
   

You will get an 'organic liquid fertiliser' which needs to be diluted prior to use

Saving eg. £3 c. for 1 lite of "Miracle-Gro" Pour & Feed ready to use Plant Food

Caroline2CV

1. Use in the car (protects the seat coverings) when loading up with items for the tip
2. lay them down in front of the hedge I am trimming to catch my clippings - Reduces the raking/sweeping up time!

A._Muse_2

Lay empty wine bottles side by side in a row, and build up layers to make a retaining wall around vegtable beds, rockeries,or sloping ground. The earth retained holds them in place. The bottles can always be taken to the bottle bank if you get fed up with them.

With skill you can spell out letters or words using different coloured bottles in the wall.

The top of an old washing machine makes a good drip tray to stop oil from cars dripping onto grass or driveways.

Peardrop_2

Those ikea blue plastic/nylon bags you can buy for 25p at the checkout are terrific for collecting debris whilst weeding etc in the garden - they are very hardwearing, go nice and flat so easy to use and will last ages.

culpepper

We have a big old fire guard going rusty that is good for putting over the beds to keep the cats off after just sowing seeds.
Old pet cages make good smaller versions of the same thing.
The rain covers off two old pushchairs made windows for the home made shed we built in 1992.
An old baby paddling pool makes a dipping pond for watering. I keep it by the overhang of the shed and it fills up quite quickly(obviously you can't do this if you still have littleuns).
A big broken bucket is a planter for mint.
I mended our water butt with a puncture repair kit as it split when the wind blew it over last year.
A cold frame is made of 4 shelves and half a 1/2 glazed door.

stilernin

I scrounged a redundant plastic/rubber(?) header tank which I used to collect rainwater from the shed. Kept it topped up with the hose during the summer.

There were a few benefits.......... saved water by not using hose directly on the garden - dipping a can is quicker than waiting for hose to fill it - water could be used on individual plants where needed - water wasn't as cold as straight from the mains- could float polystyrene module trays when they were very dry - other trays or pots could be plunged for a few seconds............ at the end of the season all the pots could be disinfected in in it before scrubbing out ready for the winter.