Useful stuff from builders skips

Mee

Hi

The foreman of a local building development is giving me access to their skips this weekend.

I'm mainly looking for bricks and planks of wood for my newly acquired allotment plot.

As a newbie I thought it would be useful to ask what else I should look out for which might be useful?

Thanks

Davesnave

Reinforcing steel mesh would be good for climbing plants, but I doubt if that'll be in a skip as it should be easily recyclable.

Silvertabby

A window, to use as a cold frame topper.

Farway

Second the windows, I made a cold frame out of discards

twopenny

Check the bricks for the roughest. Some can be slippery.

Ditto, the planks of wood can get like a skating rink. If you can pick some rough cut that's better.

My neighbour made a mini greenhouse out of old double glazing units. Sliding door at the front. I was envious.

Old carpet. I used to put it down on fallow ground in winter and the worms dug it for me, the weeds had perished, ready to go when I was and all at no effort. I also used it for my path to the compost heap. No slipping on carpet and it takes years to degrade. Oh and I used some as a cover for the compost heap directly on top of the pile. Worked well.

Bits of wood and plank to make a compost bin.

Chicken wire makes a good compost container - also a strawberry planter if made into a tube and filled with soil. I saw one done like a 3 tiered cake from large to small by a gardener back in the 40's/ A lot of strawberry plants in a small space and less available to slugs.

RAS

Definitely windows and doors; one of my neighbours made his shed from pallets for the floor, a patch work of windows on two sides and a mix of solid and some glazed doors. Access via some old French doors and a bit of lapping to infill where the window patchwork and on the triangles caused by the mono-pitch roof. 

-taff

Pipes for either sowing seedlings or peas for example, or guttering preferably,fill with compost, sow seeds, wait till they sprout, dig small trench, slide seedlings straight in. Also use as guttering on shed/greenhouse/structure for water saving. Depending on size, can be used to grow celery to blanch or leeks or to start parnsips [ very long root run] or runner beans.

Containers for planting into. Anything that looks good for things to cling to, sweet peas, runners, beans, squashes.

Anything that can be used to construct cold frames, greenhouses, sheds. Anything that can be used to hold up tools. Posts, wood, plasterboard [ useful if you've got heavy clay soil, crumble it in ] .

The potential is endless.....

silverwhistle

Large drainage pipes is what I'm looking out for, then you can easily store your canes vertically instead of lying about underfoot.

twopenny

Good one. I use a flower pot and have tried a home made wire contraption but neither wonderful.

I'm off to look for some pipe down the builders yard tomorrow.

Mee

Wow! Thanks for the replies and creative ideas. I hadn't thought about doors etc. Though in this case it is a new development so I suspect it will be foundational/basic infrastructure stuff at this time, but hope to return...

I stopped my a house the other day and asked whether I could take away some of their London Bricks. The lady threw in a Sainsbury's jute bag to take them away. Unfortunately, as I bike everywhere I could only take a few and lots of tiles. 

Black_Cat2

Stealing the cane storage idea 👍