Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Chatting => Frugal Living => Topic started by: green_lolly on April 24, 2015, 12:48
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I would really love to hear about your ideas or projects where you have reused or repurposed something to give it a second life around the garden or home. It could give me and hopefully others inspiration and ideas.
For example. Yesterday I came across some retail ice cream chest freezers waiting for disposal. I got permission to take the sliding glass tops to make cold frame lids. When I've made them I'll post some pics.
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Like most people I have a fair few things that have a second life
Bricks and showerwall offcuts edge beds.
Pallet wood gets used for most things hutches, coops, greenhouse work bench etc.
Old plastic drinks cups and yogurt pots become plant pots.
Old video cases used for my seed library
The little one pint milk bottles used as a 2 in 1 scoop funnel for filling pots with compost
Newspaper for pots and mulching beds
Drinks bottles as wind spinners.
Soil pipe used for extracting the juice out of comfrey or nettles
One that seems very popular with people is gutter for growing strawbs.
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My regular is seed trays from the mushroom containers, with holes burned in the base with a soldering iron, sometimes there is a clear plastic tray of a similar size for a lid. 8)
Cheers, Tony.
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Like most people I have a fair few things that have a second life
Bricks and showerwall offcuts edge beds.
Pallet wood gets used for most things hutches, coops, greenhouse work bench etc.
Old plastic drinks cups and yogurt pots become plant pots.
Old video cases used for my seed library
The little one pint milk bottles used as a 2 in 1 scoop funnel for filling pots with compost
Newspaper for pots and mulching beds
Drinks bottles as wind spinners.
Soil pipe used for extracting the juice out of comfrey or nettles
One that seems very popular with people is gutter for growing strawbs.
Drinks bottles as wind spinners. Do you mean just on sticks or do you make something more fun?
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There's the ubiquitous loo rolls as pot for starting peas, beans etc
Strips of wood painted with left over emulsion for plant labels
Last years raspberry canes for pea sticks
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Drinks bottles as wind spinners. Do you mean just on sticks or do you make something more fun?
Something like below with bits of cap inside that rattle when they rotate are fun and easy to make
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Some more :
Frame tents as brassica cages. Scaffolding netting for fruit cages (and brassicas). Pallets for bird boxes and compost heaps and strawberry growers. All sorts of plastic barrels for water. Dead wheel barrow now grows carrots. Plastic boxes from the supermarket - mushroom, meat if deep enough (helped by soldering iron) as seed trays. Discarded sheep netting as squash fences. Drinks bottles as water funnels and deep planters and just on top of canes to rattle at the pigeons and stop eyes getting poked out. Crisp packets as sparkly pigeon scarers (open out and tie as bow on string at regular intervals. String like bunting. They dont like the movement of the sparkly foil coloured inside. Looks pretty too if you like that sort of thing!) Lorry tyres for warm herb beds.
Heavens - so many things! Anything that is heading for the rubbish gets a second creative look!
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Drinks bottles as wind spinners. Do you mean just on sticks or do you make something more fun?
They are on sticks, but they are cut in a way they have wings so they spin. The lid is glue to the bottom inside to stop it sliding. I will take a piccy later to help make sense. I just think its nicer than carrier bag trees :)
Ok, Cads is so much more glamourous than mine :blush:
Cadalot....................................................how have you done yours? :)
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My modification to Sams instruction at about 7 minutes in is that I use a soldering iron to melt and hold the top and bottom of the body of the bottle together and leave the blades curved. No nasty tape used on my version
I also cut up different coloured bottle tops so they move and pop them inside as I also install the wire after welding the body closed. The bits rattle as the windmill rotates.
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TY Cad. Guess what I am doing this weekend :D :D :D
Just made one and it has really made my day. Simple things for simple minds. TY,TY,TY :D
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I'm loving all these ideas. Thank you. Keep them coming.
I wondered why a lot of the other plots have plastic bottles on canes. I just thought they were being super cautious about being poked in the eye.
I'm going to have a go at the wind spinners as well and the crisp packet bird scarers - good excuse to eat crisps too 😀
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I put plastic bottles on canes to help scare off the moles that keep digging up my garden. The vibration made by the wind scares them off!
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Tired trampoline safety net used to net brassicas
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Blank CD's hanging on string from an angled stick. Swings around like a whirling dervish and is very flashy. It also reflects a beam like a spotlight onto the ground which darts about as it swings. Keeping the pigeons away so far. I'm liking the idea of the wind spinner though.
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The wind spinners look fun! I'm going to have a go soon.
My flower bed area has an old clay pot chimney, wheelbarrow and strange metal pots sign rusted out bottoms I found when clearing the plot. Having no bottom at all is much better as it allows plants roots to go deeper into the 'real' soil.
I use drinks cans on the ends of my sticks (rattly and shiny!) as well as the usual debris netting etc.
The 4 pint milk bottles make excellent cloches for sweetcorn or other small plants as you can put the canes down the handles to keep them secured. I got this idea from someone on here last year.
I've recycled barrels that held olives I got cheap on ebay into planters and my beds are edged in bricks/logs found on the plot
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At home I have made a cold frame from old bricks and my lid is a shower door. At the plot my nets are propped up by old trampoline legs and old climbing frame poles. ;)
I use plastic supermarket trays for plants and like lots of other people, guttering for planting peas before transplant to plot.
My old blowaway greenhouse has been put back together in a fashion to make staging for my greenhouse. ;)
Broken terracotta pots get buried in my raised beds.
Do hate throwing anything away :lol:
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Not sure if this counts but if you have empty glass bottles you could make a bottle tree. Might make a nice artscape element to the garden.
https://smithsoniangardens.wordpress.com/2013/02/28/the-american-bottle-tree/
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Not sure if this counts but if you have empty glass bottles you could make a bottle tree. Might make a nice artscape element to the garden.
https://smithsoniangardens.wordpress.com/2013/02/28/the-american-bottle-tree/
Drunken Art - I love it :nowink: :lol:
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Not sure if this counts but if you have empty glass bottles you could make a bottle tree. Might make a nice artscape element to the garden.
https://smithsoniangardens.wordpress.com/2013/02/28/the-american-bottle-tree/
Drunken Art - I love it :nowink: :lol:
OMG I hadn't even thought of it that way lol. I was trying to figure out where to get the bottles from. Lol. I drink a lot of soda and I don't think plastic two liter bottles would have the same effect :lol:
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The trays that pots of yogurt, cream etc sit in in supermarkets make great plant pot trays.
Also you can make an awful lot of labels out of an empty plastic milk bottle.
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Filled with sand they make soft bricks for holding netting and weed membrane in place and lids on dustbins and incinerators etc.
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I fill mine with water in the winter and you have extra water for the summer
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These are pretty cute. Not sure how much is considered up-cycling, but if you have most of the things on hand already ...
http://www.thriftyrebel.com/2014/07/how-to-make-strainer-planter-wind-chime.html?m=1
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After my neighbour converted to a combi-boiler, I'm using a redundant cold water tank as a container for parsnips - deep enough and no problems with stony clay soil.
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I'm going to have to make a wind ml tomorrow!!
I use the large yogurt pots cut Into about 10 strips to make plant lables with a permeant marker pen.
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I LOVE to repurpose things...this subject is close to my heart, as I love to see something and imagine what it could be, something useful and whimsical.
My current DIY repurpose is turning a full sized headboard and footboard of a bedframe into a little daybed/bench for my grandbaby.
Pics of the progress...
Got these at Good Will for $15, the headboard was already painted with a single coat of white paint and the footboard was left alone. This is an antique bedstead of pure cherry wood...hard as a rock to get a drill bit into and also the screws. This pic is of the footboard split in half to form the sides of the bench/daybed.
(http://www.backyardchickens.com/image/id/17594904/width/700/height/700/flags/LL)
(http://www.backyardchickens.com/image/id/17594908/width/700/height/700/flags/LL)
Added a frame with 2x6s we have had for several years in our lumber pile...
(http://www.backyardchickens.com/image/id/17696281/width/700/height/700/flags/LL)
First coats of paint....will add boards for the seat of the bench and stain those a natural stain, then will upholster the seat with memory foam to form a nice mattress for her little daybed.
(http://www.backyardchickens.com/image/id/17738220/width/700/height/700/flags/LL)
Will try to find this thread again when I get the seat done on it and post the pics of how it all looks at different stages and the finished bed.
An old colander we've had since I was a little girl had lost legs and handles and had been serving to scald tomatoes for canning for many a long year. Last week I gave it a fresh coat of paint on the outside and turned it into a lampshade for our log cabin.
(http://www.backyardchickens.com/image/id/17738221/width/700/height/700/flags/LL)
Old, mismatched silver plaited dinnerware collected down through the years were turned into windchimes...even threw in a wooden decal from an old headboard to form an angel's wing topper for the baby spoons and forks.
(http://cdn.backyardchickens.com/5/57/900x900px-LL-571150ab_100_2675.jpeg)
(http://cdn.backyardchickens.com/d/d2/900x900px-LL-d22d2322_100_2676.jpeg)
This one even has a piece of old costume jewelry in it...
(http://cdn.backyardchickens.com/a/a9/900x900px-LL-a96f6fa0_100_2681.jpeg)
Antique glass doorknobs found a new home on my chicken coop...while a feed sack becomes a rain flap. And all the wood on this coop was saved from packing crates for over 50 yrs and also from several houses for that period of time, by two different elderly men and found their way into my hands when a widow cleaned out her garage and when I raided my Dad's old lumber scrap pile. All the pieces were small and were fitted in like puzzle pieces.
(http://cdn.backyardchickens.com/1/1e/900x900px-LL-1efaf216_100_2345.jpeg)
I could go on like this for pages and pages, as one of my most enjoyable hobbies is getting something for free or very cheap and making it into something useful once again or transforming it altogether into something else. I like to make a small footprint on this world and recycling things that would otherwise be thrown away suits my style.
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Wow! Beekissed - these are really great. Inspirational 😀
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I love the day bed Beekissed!
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old shower sliding doors used for heated propagator.
old cold water tank set up as wash basin for washing pots etc
old secondary glazing panels as lids to cold frames
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I LOVE to repurpose things...this subject is close to my heart, as I love to see something and imagine what it could be, something useful and whimsical.
My current DIY repurpose is turning a full sized headboard and footboard of a bedframe into a little daybed/bench for my grandbaby.
Pics of the progress...
Got these at Good Will for $15, the headboard was already painted with a single coat of white paint and the footboard was left alone. This is an antique bedstead of pure cherry wood...hard as a rock to get a drill bit into and also the screws. This pic is of the footboard split in half to form the sides of the bench/daybed.
(http://www.backyardchickens.com/image/id/17594904/width/700/height/700/flags/LL)
(http://www.backyardchickens.com/image/id/17594908/width/700/height/700/flags/LL)
Added a frame with 2x6s we have had for several years in our lumber pile...
(http://www.backyardchickens.com/image/id/17696281/width/700/height/700/flags/LL)
First coats of paint....will add boards for the seat of the bench and stain those a natural stain, then will upholster the seat with memory foam to form a nice mattress for her little daybed.
(http://www.backyardchickens.com/image/id/17738220/width/700/height/700/flags/LL)
Will try to find this thread again when I get the seat done on it and post the pics of how it all looks at different stages and the finished bed.
An old colander we've had since I was a little girl had lost legs and handles and had been serving to scald tomatoes for canning for many a long year. Last week I gave it a fresh coat of paint on the outside and turned it into a lampshade for our log cabin.
(http://www.backyardchickens.com/image/id/17738221/width/700/height/700/flags/LL)
Old, mismatched silver plaited dinnerware collected down through the years were turned into windchimes...even threw in a wooden decal from an old headboard to form an angel's wing topper for the baby spoons and forks.
(http://cdn.backyardchickens.com/5/57/900x900px-LL-571150ab_100_2675.jpeg)
(http://cdn.backyardchickens.com/d/d2/900x900px-LL-d22d2322_100_2676.jpeg)
This one even has a piece of old costume jewelry in it...
(http://cdn.backyardchickens.com/a/a9/900x900px-LL-a96f6fa0_100_2681.jpeg)
Antique glass doorknobs found a new home on my chicken coop...while a feed sack becomes a rain flap. And all the wood on this coop was saved from packing crates for over 50 yrs and also from several houses for that period of time, by two different elderly men and found their way into my hands when a widow cleaned out her garage and when I raided my Dad's old lumber scrap pile. All the pieces were small and were fitted in like puzzle pieces.
(http://cdn.backyardchickens.com/1/1e/900x900px-LL-1efaf216_100_2345.jpeg)
I could go on like this for pages and pages, as one of my most enjoyable hobbies is getting something for free or very cheap and making it into something useful once again or transforming it altogether into something else. I like to make a small footprint on this world and recycling things that would otherwise be thrown away suits my style.
Finished that little daybed and also made a sleep guard for it from bargain bin brocade, so she won't fall out of bed..just used the brocade, a couple of thin boards, and some 550 cord for the sleep guard. The mattress of the bed is comprised of pieces of a chaise lounge pad and some pieces of memory foam...used a trash bag cut open to line it so that any night accidents won't be permanently ingrained in the mattress.
First the bench...one day when she outgrows it, it will revert to being a bench...
(http://cdn.backyardchickens.com/8/83/900x900px-LL-83c465bc_100_3609.jpeg)
Then with the added mattress padding and upholstery...
(http://cdn.backyardchickens.com/f/f9/900x900px-LL-f97d7d61_100_3719.jpeg)
(http://cdn.backyardchickens.com/9/9a/900x900px-LL-9a01ace0_100_3722.jpeg)
Then with the sleep guard...took this design from mention a fellow made about sleeping berths on a boat and how they use canvas slings that come up from underneath to keep people from rolling out of the berth on rough seas. When not in use, the board is slipped out of the pocket at the top and stored, while the sling is rolled up and is secured with velcro under the frame of the bed, completely out of sight.
(http://cdn.backyardchickens.com/6/62/900x900px-LL-625da96c_100_3838.jpeg)
(http://cdn.backyardchickens.com/e/e1/900x900px-LL-e12e417f_100_3837.jpeg)
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That is gorgeous. I love the patchwork as well. Your lillun certainly looks peaceful in there :)
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Thank you! :) A lot of time and love went into it.
She loves it! It's the first time I have seen her want to play in her bed when she wakes up...I think she knows it was made special for her. That quilt was hand stitched by her Granny for her as well...I'm not very good at sewing and my hands are arthritic, so that's probably the first and last one she'll ever get from me. I'm not the spoiling kind of grandma, so this is how I get to do that side of the grandma bit. :D
I'll be making her a little cubby out of pallets for my next project...a place for her to store her shoes, hats, gloves and jacket, that is free standing, with a little seat, and can be placed in her closet at home and I'll make another for her to have here.
Love that kid. :)
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It sounds to me Beeskissed you are just the perfect granny. Spoiling ruins them, loving nurtures them 😉
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There is spoiling or there is making memories and instilling experiences. ;)
I have a patchwork blanket that my Nanny always put on the bed went I went to stay and a lava lamp that went on only when I visited. It was also my Nanny that got me baking and gardening. I wouldn't change any of it :)
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I agree! My grandma didn't spoil us either but she taught us how to kill a chicken, played board games with us and let us raid her garden and cellar for good things, let us play in her hay barn, feed chickens and gather eggs and such. I don't ever remember her hugging me or making over me, but I remember all the rest and it was enough to make us want to go to her house and not want to leave.
She sure never wants to leave grandma's house either, so maybe I'm getting it right...she's my first one and all. :)
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Fashioned a diversion tunnel on my back pop door to keep out my LGD pup, who's been stealing my eggs. Used the top of a large old cat carrier to create a tunnel with a 45* angle into the coop. If this doesn't work, I'll likely extend the tunnel or place another bend in it.
(http://www.backyardchickens.com/image/id/18195575/width/700/height/700/flags/LL)
(http://www.backyardchickens.com/image/id/18195577/width/700/height/700/flags/LL)
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Lovely thread here all, I have really enjoyed seeing what you have re-cycled and used for other purposes.
Cheers
Aled
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Currently doing another upcyle....found a very sturdy nightstand at a yard sale for $4 and am currently turning it into a top bar hive. Will post pics of the before and after when done. At first I was just going to use the nightstand as a hive body and add supers but then decided to turn it into a long body hive, so built onto it and extended the back of it instead.
Will use a metal patio coffee table for my hive stand.
I'm really loving this project!
Last month I wanted to expand a breeding/brooding pen for the chickens and used some lumber rescued from the trash in town and some lumber from a set of bunkbeds my brother had deconstructed and gifted me, plus very old scraps of lumber we had here already, to complete the build. Also added an old screen door(free) from my son and another old screen door I got for $5 as the doors to the pen, mounting one on a slider. Both of those doors will be utilized for drying veggies this summer and will top cold frames this next fall/winter, but will return to the pen by breeding time next spring.
The scrapped together pen revamp...
(http://cdn.backyardchickens.com/f/f7/900x900px-LL-f749fbb1_100_4272.jpeg)
The soon-to-be beehive in its former mode as a nightstand....
(http://cdn.backyardchickens.com/a/a6/900x900px-LL-a6916ab4_100_4259.jpeg)
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Ah, that's what a nightstand is. I thought it was that sort of girl you would only take out on one date. ;)
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Behave yourself Trikidiki! LOL
Nice looking building there Beekissed.
Aled
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Thought I better give an update on the nightstand to beehive transformation...
(http://www.sufficientself.com/attachments/100_4545-jpg.1705/)
These old ladders found in the trash found new life as trellises in the garden this year...
(http://www.sufficientself.com/attachments/100_4771-jpg.1698/)
(http://www.sufficientself.com/attachments/100_4839-jpg.1700/)
An old wooden bedstead will soon be made into a raised bed/cold frame, but first I cut the legs off the bottom and used them to make a little table for my granddaughter's playhouse.
(http://www.sufficientself.com/attachments/100_4903-jpg.1696/)
(http://www.sufficientself.com/attachments/100_4904-jpg.1697/)
I'm currently building her a playhouse out of pallet wood and hope to be done with most of it by the end of this week. Will post pics of that when I'm done. Takes awhile to break down old pallets and that wood is tough as hickory! Hard to cut, hard to get a nail or screw into, so every step of the way is a struggle.
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Nice work BK :D
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Oh yes looks brilliant BK
Cheers
Aled
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This whole playhouse was built from recycled/free wood~pallets, shipping crates, construction throwaways, salvaged tin, and even the slide was recovered off the curb where it was left out in the trash. The little table was made from an old bedstead, the hardware recycled from old doors. The other items inside came from Goodwill...the kitchenette was $10 , pots and pans, curtains, apron, chair, baskets, etc. were all $1-$2 items from GW.
I just completed this project today.
(http://www.theeasygarden.com/attachments/100_4958-jpg.16316/)
(http://www.theeasygarden.com/attachments/100_4976-jpg.16321/)
(http://www.theeasygarden.com/attachments/100_4961-jpg.16317/)
(http://www.theeasygarden.com/attachments/100_4971-jpg.16320/)
Her reaction to it was priceless!
(http://www.theeasygarden.com/attachments/100_4967-jpg.16318/)
(http://www.theeasygarden.com/attachments/100_4968-jpg.16319/)
(http://)
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Fantastic BK, she's going to get so much fun with that, love that you can see straight though so you can keep an eye on her. Is it you that actually makes it or is it a family affair? Don't know where you find the time with all your growing & preserving
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:lol: It's me. Though my 82 yr old Ma helped me get the tin nailed to the rafters, trimmed and then caulked so it wouldn't leak...she's small enough to get on that roof without any chance of harm coming to it! :lol: But, the rest was just me.
My life is pretty simple, so I have more time than most. Kids are grown, no job except for being Mom's live in companion(I was a nurse for 20 yrs but haven't done that for the past 5 yrs), no husband, no TV, no desire to travel, shop, or otherwise expend time out there in the world. I do have time to help people when the need arises and also to spend time with the grandgirls. God has blessed me richly through and through.
It's a wonderful life!!!! :)
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Lovely BK looks brilliant.
Cheers
Aled
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Your granddaughters face is just beaming with joy and no wonder. That is a fantastic play house :D
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:lol: It's me. Though my 82 yr old Ma helped me get the tin nailed to the rafters, trimmed and then caulked so it wouldn't leak...she's small enough to get on that roof without any chance of harm coming to it! :lol: But, the rest was just me.
My life is pretty simple, so I have more time than most. Kids are grown, no job except for being Mom's live in companion(I was a nurse for 20 yrs but haven't done that for the past 5 yrs), no husband, no TV, no desire to travel, shop, or otherwise expend time out there in the world. I do have time to help people when the need arises and also to spend time with the grandgirls. God has blessed me richly through and through.
It's a wonderful life!!!! :)
Haha sounds like your mom needs keeping an eye on if she's still climbing on roofs aged 82. 😊
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You kiddin'? I can't keep her OFF the roof! :lol: She's always up on one roof or another doing something!
When she isn't doing that she's mowing, weedeating, moving brush, cleaning, etc. She never stops working and moving and I'm running tired just trying to keep up with her, but I never succeed. She's too active for me. She also dances with two different groups two or three times per week.
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Wow, it sounds like what ever she's running on you need to can that & market it, I'll have a bucket load if you can export it over the pond 😄
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:mad:
Found a new place to scavenge for free wood for projects, particularly outside projects as most of the wood is treated. Lowe's has these sections of wood 3-4 ft. x 2.5 in. x 2 in. with a slight groove cut into one side that they call "stickers", which they receive between shipments of drywall...and they throw that wood away! :wacko:
When I found that out, each time I am in that store I check for these stickers, either inside the store at the back entrance in a cart of other debris to be taken out or outside the store in a pile(these are often gone quickly, so I have more luck inside the store).
These could be used to make nifty little raised beds, garden benches (http://removeandreplace.com/2015/04/22/diy-20-easy-wooden-bench-project/ (http://removeandreplace.com/2015/04/22/diy-20-easy-wooden-bench-project/)), steps, etc.
I'm currently building a stoop for the front of my coop out of some of these and some old 4x4s found in an ancient lumber pile that my Dad had stored here on the land. That's a free stoop, except the hardware screws, so I'm pretty delighted.
Between these and deconstructed pallets, I have free wood for projects of all kinds now and I'm tickled! :D