Do you have something makeshift that you use for your garden?

Question

Items as well as ideas.

Please give some detail on how or why you use this.

Answer 1

Everything in my garden is makeshift, from the wooden wagon with bicycle wheels that I tow behind the lawnmower, to the wire store display racks that the cucumbers grow on. The fence is made from chicken wire and 1x3 crating boards from some fancy office furniture. They are made in 5' panels so they follow the contour more easily and are held up with rebar stakes and tie wire. My pea fence is 4x4 welded wire mesh used for reinforcing concrete sidewalks. My bean poles are bamboo and tree limbs cut from down in the woods. My tomato cages are 6x6 welded wire. My fertilizer is composted chicken litter from the chicken coop. My grape vines grow on reinforcing cable that came from old power lines. And my cold frame is made from shipping crates, recycled wire shelving, and a sliding glass door. We use old cookie sheets as trays for the plant starters. I also use an old stocking on a stick to dust the potato plants with Sevin Dust.

My next project is a large greenhouse made from old timbers or maybe steel posts from work, and wood framed windows that people throw out when they get new vinyl windows.

Oh, I forgot to tell you why, but that should be pretty obvious, by now: I'M CHEAP!

Answer 2

I grow carnivorous plants in artificial bogs. The bog garden itself is an old antique claw foot bath tub. These plants have to have a supply of pure water so I sunk a bucket in the ground to catch the condensation from the air conditioner. A sump-pump in the bucket pumps the water into another bucket suspended over the bog. I put a water tap in the bottom of the bucket with a soaker hose attached so that there is a controlled flow of pure water going into the bog at all times.

Answer 3

Patio umbrella frame to grow beans. I dug a shaft 2' deep; put pebbles in the bottom to insulate the wood from raw earth; stuck a sheath of pvc the length of the hole; slipped the upriht in and tied strings from each end to a stake out from each upright end and watch them grow into a living tepee.

Answer 4

I use small lawn tractor tires as planters for smaller plants. My sis planted cascading flowers in an old (clean) toilet. My mom and I both planted hens and chicks in old mailboxes. (use the plastic ones! Just drill holes, add dirt, plants, and water.) Old boots and shoes make cute planters also. This year I'm adding old bed pans to the mix!! ("fertilizer" optional). lol. I just use whatever I think will look cute and holds dirt. Cuz I'm frugal also!!

Answer 5

I made a rose shelter out of two old window shutters. Here in zone 4 we have to put a shelter over the roses so they won't freeze in the winter. so I wired two shutters together and stood them up to make a little house around each rosebush, then filled the shelter up with chopped leaves.

I made bird feeders out of old teacups and saucers. I glued them together, then glued them to copper pipe and pushed it into the ground. Cute and they last forever!

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Answer 6

Ive a corner bath as a pond. i got fed up with waiting for the pond to be finished. now on own it wont. but the fish are happy and it looks as i am weired.