[surbie100]

Hurrah - great thread and my friend-with-chickens is just ripping her bathroom out for something new. Hopefully it's a bath I can lift as she's just a short walk from the site - I foresee some skip-diving later this afternoon. 

[jonewer]

I use a bath to grow mint

[compostqueen]

I have a cast iron bath in the garden at home and at present it's catching rainwater but I have a plan to give it centre stage in the veg area. I'm going to repaint it in a bright colour and grow leaves in it. I think it's too good to be a water butt and I can replace it for that purpose with a plastic butt 

[sunshineband]

You could harvest rainwater into it for a start 

We have a rather fetching corner bath in our plot and we use it for water. Makes an excellent spot to wash out pots, trays etc, and when it get too dirty we bale out the water with a can (straight into the greenhouse borders), tip out the remaining few inches and start again.

Makes a great temporary home for a whole range of water beetles and pondskaters in the summer too 

[Yorkie]

If you do make it into a pond, make sure that you enable small animals etc to get out of it - you'll need a series of steps to allow them to climb out.

[sunshineband]

Ours is not a sunken bath and so the chance of small animals (except invertebrate sorts of course) are pretty miniscule. Plus we have some bamboos propped at an angle so that beetles that cannot gain enough purchase  to get away and fly

[Madame Cholet]

My soil is very clayey so I've goen for a raised pond with a hibernaculum underneath. I'm filling in the sides with hard core, which will be gentle sloping when complete, and logs at the tap end. within the hardcore there are a couple of lengths of sewerage  pipe too. This in an ongoing project which I hope to complete over the winter. Smaller stones will top the larger ones then soil. Over hanging plants and steps inside for easy access and escape.

[rachelsco]

madam cholet your pond sounds very top of the range is a hibernaculum a hibernating area? can you post a photo when completed?

 i do like the sound of that, last year my toads were under fence panels, and when i lifted the panels up to peek at them at least a dozen would try to scramble away.  when we couldnt see them under the panels, we used the panels in the stove, and have dug over that area now.  now i dont know where they have gone, tho there are lots of places to hide on our site.

i shall have to get another bath for carrots

[compostqueen]

These posts go to show that there is life for an old bath and that we have them and know how to use them. Breaking them up and taking them to the tip is not an option for most of us with ideas on how to re-use them.  More power to our elbow.  Re-using tackle and saving water or providing ourselves with a free pond or large container for growing stuff is what it's all about 

[GYO Girl]

I use a bath to grow mint

Wow, you must really like mint! 

[Madame Cholet]

madam cholet your pond sounds very top of the range is a hibernaculum a hibernating area? can you post a photo when completed?

 i do like the sound of that, last year my toads were under fence panels, and when i lifted the panels up to peek at them at least a dozen would try to scramble away.  when we couldnt see them under the panels, we used the panels in the stove, and have dug over that area now.  now i dont know where they have gone, tho there are lots of places to hide on our site.

i shall have to get another bath for carrots

I attended a wildlife gardening course in the spring where the lady introduced me to hibernaculums. She suggested a trench overfilled to a hump, so I've adapted the idea. Start with large stones and pipes covered with smaller stones and soil, they suggested one side for a dust bath and one side planted.
I'm only halfway there, will spend some time collecting limestone from the farmer's field in the winter and finish it off for the spring.

[Growster...]

We have a bath on each plot, and one of them has a few handfuls of manure chucked in. We also add a little comfrey and nettles, and let it fill with rainwater.

All we have to do is dip a can for a quick splurge on anything that needs it, and 'bob's your auntie'!

[chillimummy]

when my plot was overgrown then saw lots of frogs. now clearer then not as many.
have old shower basin so might take that to plot and try and make shallow pond. bath sounds great idea for growing.allotments in next village are full of baths and most people seem grow carrots in them 

[wasthiswise]

Pretty sure if I added a bathtub to my plot I would be politely told to shift it.