Recycling Tin Cans

Ice_2

Hi everyone I am going to resign or rather re shape my front garden this year then make it more user friendly and weedish free if that is ever possible...anyway have done a recki on things I'll need like... weed fabric and gravel and coco mulch and a log edging in between to divide the mulch from the gravel...anyway this comes to around £400 as it'll cost me £100 for the log edging well I have enough wood lice so don't really want to use that...so I thought if I wash my tin cans out and take off the wrapper's they will all be silver...so I am going to use these as the edging I'll tap them in with a rubber mallet and re-do them as and when they get rusty...and I'll have a re-shaped re-designed garden with a modern twist so I am thinking as this will take £100 off the price...what do you think any suggestions....:D

kscour

Great idea :T but I think you may find that the tin cans rust very, very quickly. I have seen the same kind of thing done with upside down bottles but obviously they come with their own problems as well. Perhaps you could paint the tins would look lovely though - lots of shiney OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO's.

Ice_2

I thought about spray paint or hammersmith but that would require me to spend money so I am trying to cut down on the spending:eek:...plus I will need about 800 tins so yeh not a good idea:eek:...but as I have 3 cats I am getting quite alot of tins saved up so will continue to save them after I have done the job:D...then I can just replace them when they go rusty...well that's my thinking anyway:D...I will post a pic of the finished work at the end of april when the job is complete...thanks...:D:j

Ice_2

I am always trying new things I get coffee in tins at Lidl which I am saving I have some silver and gold spray paint left over from xmas and some silver and gold pebbles more like small gravel...so I thought if I spray painted the outside of the tins in the two different colours then got some cutters and plyers and cut the tins to half way down then peeled them back and round like a flower put some of the pebbles/gravel in and a tealight instant tealight holders for the garden...I was doing something simular with glass jars last year...which I still have I left them clear 3 in each corner of the garden really does light it up and give's a nice calming glow...:Dand it doesn't cost a thing...I am also looking at using some as planters knock some holes in the bottom for drainage screw a screw in the side on to the fence post of which I have alot (large garden front side and rear) then put some compost in and a pansie or a marigold and just keep fed and watered and see how they get on...as I have a rather long driveway so it could look rather nice with them down the drive on the fence woth colour everywhere...and they wont get in the way like a bigger planter would...:DI do have some crazy idea's

alanobrien

Rather than paint you could lacquer them or paint them in a dilute PVA solution
the latter is very cheap and would help to seal the surface against rain and hence rust. The downside is it would most likely need repeating quite often.

kscour

Ice wrote: »

I do have some crazy idea's

Not Crazy at all - "inspired" is more like it! Wish i was that creative!
Seen a wall, 2-3 ft high, made out of glass bottles (lying on their sides) and a bit of cement to hold it all together - looked wonderful and i thought it was rather posh and designer. Found out it was more an act of desperation as they had a long drive to wall off and couldn't really afford to do it. The wall was built as and when they had enough bottles/cement but once people found out what they were doing they kept finding bottles of empties left at the top of their drive!

Ice_2

kscour wrote: »

Not Crazy at all - "inspired" is more like it! Wish i was that creative!
Seen a wall, 2-3 ft high, made out of glass bottles (lying on their sides) and a bit of cement to hold it all together - looked wonderful and i thought it was rather posh and designer. Found out it was more an act of desperation as they had a long drive to wall off and couldn't really afford to do it. The wall was built as and when they had enough bottles/cement but once people found out what they were doing they kept finding bottles of empties left at the top of their drive!

nice one...:j...I'll have to let my neighbours know and see if they can help out in that department...thanks:D

Suzy_M

Ice wrote: »

and re-do them as and when they get rusty:D

I really like your idea - much cooler than log rolls.

Would it matter if they show rusty though. Reason I ask is I've seen quite a few outside features where the rust on objects has been part of the overall effect.

Make sure you tap them down well though otherwise if we have any more of this windy weather you'll have tin cans rolling around your garden - but it would scare cats off :rotfl:

Ice_2

Suzy_M wrote: »

I really like your idea - much cooler than log rolls.

Would it matter if they show rusty though. Reason I ask is I've seen quite a few outside features where the rust on objects has been part of the overall effect.

Make sure you tap them down well though otherwise if we have any more of this windy weather you'll have tin cans rolling around your garden - but it would scare cats off :rotfl:

lol:rotfl: tin can alley...I don't suppose it would matter if they went rusty...just the silver is more of a modern look really...so I guess rusty would be oldie worldy...thanks:D

demented_2

Hi, I used the empty dog and cat tins last year, for planting herbs and sweetpeas and also some nasturtiums. I just made a few drainage holes with a bradel or what ever its called in the bottom of the tins, made 2 holes at the top, threaded a bit of wire through the holes, put some compost in the tins and put some mint in 1, abit of parsley in another, and single sweetpeas in other tins Nasturtiums in the rest of the remaining ones, and just tied up the pieces of wire on to some trellis, which we had on a wall. The effect was really good. One of the teachers at our local primary school, brought some children around to see it, they said that they are going to do that this year in the school garden. I didn't bother painting the tins, but might give them abit of a laquer this year, anyway it used alot of the pets tins. Then after they are finished with we tied them up on some bamboo canes to scare the pigeons off the allotment. Gosh sorry if i sound garbled, i feel abit tired and the dog needs to go out. Anyway i thought that i would share that with you all.

Ice_2

demented wrote: »

Hi, I used the empty dog and cat tins last year, for planting herbs and sweetpeas and also some nasturtiums. I just made a few drainage holes with a bradel or what ever its called in the bottom of the tins, made 2 holes at the top, threaded a bit of wire through the holes, put some compost in the tins and put some mint in 1, abit of parsley in another, and single sweetpeas in other tins Nasturtiums in the rest of the remaining ones, and just tied up the pieces of wire on to some trellis, which we had on a wall. The effect was really good. One of the teachers at our local primary school, brought some children around to see it, they said that they are going to do that this year in the school garden. I didn't bother painting the tins, but might give them abit of a laquer this year, anyway it used alot of the pets tins. Then after they are finished with we tied them up on some bamboo canes to scare the pigeons off the allotment. Gosh sorry if i sound garbled, i feel abit tired and the dog needs to go out. Anyway i thought that i would share that with you all.

thanks that sounds great...bet the kids loved it...did you watch alot of bluepeter to as a child I know I did...some people say to me that I am very creative and that they wouldn't have thought of doing that...but I think it's with growing up in the 60's and 70's that has done it as people nowadays just go out and buy stuff but I can't afford to do that most of the time so I tend to think right I'd like to make this so what have I got in that I could make it with..I had aload of MDF left over before christmas so with the help of my son I knocked up a fire-surround it looks very good...thanks for sharing this with me...:D