Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat

Chatting => Frugal Living => Topic started by: green_lolly on April 07, 2015, 22:30

Title: Ask and yee shall receive
Post by: green_lolly on April 07, 2015, 22:30
A neighbouring house had a house clearance company in as the tenants had left. Got chatting to one of the lads and asked for some scrap timber I'd spotted.

"No problem" he replied, "Do you want to come in and have a look at what else there is? Take anything else you want, it's all going in a skip"

Well I was in there like a rat up an aqueduct and got

Lots of timber
2 watering cans
Loads of large plant pots and planters
A garden bench
Rigid plastic netting
A strimmer
Various recycling containers

A magnificent haul! I could have had a dishwasher too but no room in my kitchen.
Title: Re: Ask and yee shall receive
Post by: Bohobumble on April 07, 2015, 23:03
argh Freecycle! I hate to see things thrown away to landfill when they're perfectly good.
Title: Re: Ask and yee shall receive
Post by: mumofstig on April 08, 2015, 08:57
Some people have all the luck  :lol:
Title: Re: Ask and yee shall receive
Post by: Ema on April 09, 2015, 22:27
Wow Christmas came early! I will remember this - don't be afraid to ask!
Title: Re: Ask and yee shall receive
Post by: green_lolly on April 10, 2015, 08:43
I hate to see waste of any kind really.  If you just start up a conversation people are extremely generous.  I bought something off eBay the other week and when I went to collect and got chatting about my new allotment the seller gave me some other things that he couldn't be bothered listing.

I also love fishing things out of skips and rescuing them from the dump.  Years ago I was out on a first date with some flash lad who thought he was the bees knees in his sports car.  He took me to a country pub but I spotted a wicker Lloyd-Loom type chair on a pile waiting for the dustmen and made him stop and cram it into his car. His face was a picture! He was too polite to say no - bless him.  The relationship went nowhere but I still have the chair  ;)
Title: Re: Ask and yee shall receive
Post by: Aled on April 10, 2015, 11:34
Nice one green-lolly
I love skip diving. Over the years, wood for various purposes, chicken wire for a leaf compost, various magazines, a library card box, a set of draws from a medical trolley, and empty paint buckets (they make great bait buckets)
I always have a look in a skip.
Cheers
Aled
Title: Re: Ask and yee shall receive
Post by: Kleftiwallah on April 10, 2015, 12:33

Saw a long plastic tray leaning up against a bin.  Knocked on the house door and the bloke said I could have it and did I want any decking (no, I did not hit him to get in first),  but I now have the material to make more :ohmy: shelves in my shed and to make a rather natty surround for the potato grow bags the mamsahib has outside the conserve.   Got to know a new 'chum' who's into motorcycles, Jap jobs, but still bikes.

Always pays to ask!              Cheers,  Tony
Title: Re: Ask and yee shall receive
Post by: Aled on April 28, 2015, 14:45
Found a mesh plastic try, which combined with some old foam will make an ideal shhoting seat.
Cheers
Aled
Title: Re: Ask and yee shall receive
Post by: cadalot on April 28, 2015, 15:05
Blow-a-way frame off freecycle will house my dwarf cherry tomatoes 
Title: Re: Ask and yee shall receive
Post by: green_lolly on April 29, 2015, 06:53
At last!  I know what a blow away greenhouse is now!
Title: Re: Ask and yee shall receive
Post by: cadalot on April 29, 2015, 06:56
At last!  I know what a blow away greenhouse is now!

Any cheap temporary greenhouse/ grow house that thinks it's a kite  :nowink: The lady who put this on freecycle could not source a new cover for it as it had a top that I have taken off - but they make cheap staging, and at the end of the season the likes of Wilko sell them off dirt cheap. You can reuse the bits to make cages once the skins and zip have broken.
Title: Re: Ask and yee shall receive
Post by: andimac on April 29, 2015, 07:17
I went along to where there are new houses being built to see if they had any unwanted pallets. Came away with lots of bits of timber and some double sized ones! They now form the walls and roof of my nice new woodshed..and the normal ones built my compost bins wooho!
Title: Re: Ask and yee shall receive
Post by: robinahood on April 29, 2015, 17:06
Was having a glass of wine sitting outside a local pub, the planters were being refreshed. After chatting to the gardener came away with a lovely Choisya Ternata which is happily flowering in my front garden.. it would have gone on the skip so think that was a good result...  :)





Title: Re: Ask and yee shall receive
Post by: Aled on May 01, 2015, 09:35
Some nice wood from a skip last night, some will be used to make supports for my tomato growing trug, some for kindling, and one piece for a new style on the local fishing clubs stretch of water.
Cheers
Aled
Title: Re: Ask and yee shall receive
Post by: Beekissed on May 01, 2015, 15:43
I hate to see waste of any kind really.  If you just start up a conversation people are extremely generous.  I bought something off eBay the other week and when I went to collect and got chatting about my new allotment the seller gave me some other things that he couldn't be bothered listing.

I also love fishing things out of skips and rescuing them from the dump.  Years ago I was out on a first date with some flash lad who thought he was the bees knees in his sports car.  He took me to a country pub but I spotted a wicker Lloyd-Loom type chair on a pile waiting for the dustmen and made him stop and cram it into his car. His face was a picture! He was too polite to say no - bless him.  The relationship went nowhere but I still have the chair  ;)

 :lol:  I LOVE this story!!!  That is exactly something I would do.  Love rescuing great things from the trash and have no compunction about doing so. 
Title: Re: Ask and yee shall receive
Post by: Ema on May 03, 2015, 18:13
I have a lovely sit up and beg Raleigh bike from the tip, this one still lets you "buy" things. I asked how much he said a fiver I said ok I'll pop back with the money...and off I went!
Also had a lovely bit of 18mm ply just what I needed at the time! And an ironing board that was about to go on the scrap metal pile.
The nearest tip to my house now won't let you take anything out but I can still visit the other as its by my plot
Title: Re: Ask and yee shall receive
Post by: Aled on April 13, 2016, 09:50
Well a bit of success this weekend. A nice growing trough for my tomatoes, plus some nice pieces of wood to make supports for said growing trough. Some wood offcuts for kindling!
Cheers
Aled 
Title: Re: Ask and yee shall receive
Post by: Beekissed on April 15, 2016, 04:46
I found some premium lumber thrown out in the trash and stopped to pick it up...would have been around $50 worth if I were to buy it.  Spent 20 min. taking the screws out of it and used some of the lumber for a project and also reused the screws for the same.  In the background of this pic you can see an old wooden step ladder...it was in the same trash, not a thing wrong with it.  I'll be using it to trellis some beans and pumpkins in the garden this season. 

(http://www.backyardchickens.com/image/id/18708748/width/900/height/900/flags/LL)

Title: Re: Ask and yee shall receive
Post by: Aled on April 15, 2016, 09:07
Brilliant! There was a chap at the recycling site last Sunday filling his car with wood pieces (his hobby was carpentry and he made all sorts out of recycled wood), apparently getting rid of wood is very difficult for the site owner, so he was quite happy for it to be taken.
I'll stick my head in the wood pile next visit!
Cheers
Aled
Title: Re: Ask and yee shall receive
Post by: azubah on April 15, 2016, 09:21
My DH found a perfectly good strimmer in a skip. He jokes that he had to unplug it before he took it.
Title: Re: Ask and yee shall receive
Post by: Aled on September 02, 2016, 10:03
Nice pile of lovely wood off cuts last week, plus the soft wood from a bed frame which will make some good kindling for the forthcoming winter.
Cheers
Aled
Title: Re: Ask and yee shall receive
Post by: ARPoet on September 02, 2016, 10:15
House across from me is being totally refurbished using a lot of old bricks and stone.. They had all my old bricks when i had a new wall built and my drive done and i have had 2 wooden cage pallets and builder bags so i can use them raised beds so i can grow tatties in a space unsuitable for anything else.
Our lass sighs when i pull up next to a skip and have a poke around.
Title: Re: Ask and yee shall receive
Post by: Aled on April 13, 2017, 09:36
Wood off cuts again from a skip last night. Plenty of tomato box supports and kindling!
Cheers
Aled
Title: Re: Ask and yee shall receive
Post by: Aled on May 02, 2017, 14:48
Half a dozen Smallholder magazines for a £1. That should keep me away from the TV!
Cheers
Aled
Title: Re: Ask and yee shall receive
Post by: Aled on May 02, 2017, 15:41
A couple of fence posts for the garden!
Title: Re: Ask and yee shall receive
Post by: grinling on May 04, 2017, 21:40
A neighbour brought round pre cut tree bits for the log burner in a wheelbarrow.
Title: Re: Ask and yee shall receive
Post by: Aled on May 05, 2017, 10:07
The recycling centre near us has closed, there is tons of wood there doing nothing, time for a visit with the boot open. (ps I know the owner and have asked so no comments about stealing!)
Cheers
Aled
Title: Re: Ask and yee shall receive
Post by: Aled on June 06, 2017, 09:54
I was in Cardiff last week visiting my sister. Saw 2 skips full of goodies....sadly my wife was driving and I dared not ask her to allow me to rummage and bring back the stash, we were on our way to the Urdd Eisteddfod!
You win some you lose some.
Cheers
Aled
Title: Re: Ask and yee shall receive
Post by: Aled on July 24, 2017, 09:39
I was at the local recycling centre today, saw some pieces of wood off cuts, asked the chap if I could take them, he said help yourself. They will be nicely cut into small pieces for kindling over the summer for winter use. 
Cheers
Aled
Title: Re: Ask and yee shall receive
Post by: Aled on September 05, 2017, 11:51
Saw a skip full of wood off cuts, knocked on the house door, no answer so I took a risk and put some of them in my car boot!
Cheers
Aled
Title: Re: Ask and yee shall receive
Post by: Aled on February 01, 2018, 14:27
No skip diving recently I'm sorry to say! Anybody else get lucky?
Cheers
Aled