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Not junky bad, but junky good!

I realize it is appalling for some people to use junk in the garden but not to me.  Most of my garden “art” is aged, rusty, and weird but in my eyes it’s interesting to look at and the BEST part- most of it was free!  I admit and confess I’m a junk junky .

Recently I had a chat with someone that was down in the dumps because her garden was blah and boring.  She procrastinated doing anything to update it because she thought it would take wads of cash to even get her garden space comfy and inviting. This made me sad. 

For those with little money my garden is living proof that you don’t need a bunch a cash to create a unique garden of your own.  Here are some “dumpster diver” tips that I gave to the lady I mentioned before:

 Use splashes of color throughout your garden.  Here’s a couple of battered rusty chairs that a couple of nice guys dropped off for me.  Since they’re non-functioning I thought they’d add some interest and color in my flower bed…

Use similar found items and group them together.  As you know, I heart rocks…

Create flower/vegetable beds and borders out of bottles from your recycle bin or do what I did…put the word out on Facebook and you’ll have bottles in no time!

Make your own garden art by thinking outside the dumpster…literally.  Here’s some metal pieces that got a new lease on life.  The round metal rings were off a wine barrel planter that fell apart and the metal candlesticks were found at a second hand store for a few bucks…

Before you throw something out ask yourself if you can plant in it.  Here’s a couple vertical planters, one made from a heater that was salvaged from a house demo and the other from a rice bag…

So, I hope this has given you some junkalicious inspiration to get in the garden and be creative with found objects and items headed to the dump.  Gardening with reused materials sometimes is a better and prettier way to go,  especially,  when you don’t have a lot of money in your pocket. 

What sort of fun ways do YOU garden?  I’d love to hear from you!!!!

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This post originally appeared on the #gardenchat blog.  You can follow #gardenchat on Twitter and on Facebook.

Reduce, reuse, recycle are words we hear everyday and sometimes several times a day. Specifically in the area of reuse, gardeners all around the world, from all walks of life and economic status have taken the incentive to use items that were headed to the landfill to create unique gardens.

Not only does reusing items help the environment but it allows us to get very creative in our garden spaces with little or no money. There are several ways to use junk and trash in our gardens .  For example instead of recycling, why not reuse cardboard egg cartons, toilet paper rolls and newspaper for seed starting? Mini blinds can be cut up for for plant labels, old windows can be turned into cold frames, veggie scraps and yard waste can be composted to create nutrient rich soil.

Another way to turn trash-into-treasure and reusing found objects is by creating funky planters. Here’s a peek of trash and junkyard finds that I’ve turned into planters.  My motto is if it has a vessel or receptacle you may as well grow in it!  The three materials I look for when proverbial dumpster diving are metal, wood and straw. 

Metal

Galvanized metal stock tanks and cattle troughs make excellent container and water gardens.  I love Pam’s article, on her blog Digging, No Bull!  Cattle troughs make great containers.  Keep your eye open for these cool containers at yard sales, second hand stores and flea markets.  I recently picked up two of these containers that a friend of mine was going to take to the dump.  Score!  Another fun way to use metal is by planting in cut-off pieces of metal pipe. 

Wood

Wood is another material that gets wasted and thrown into the landfill.  A vertical garden can be made out of a pallet, mini raised garden beds can be achieved from wooden wine boxes, a salvage door can be turned into a potting bench and an old toolbox can be transformed into a planter.  Here is a toolbox I rescued from the trash and planted with herbs…

Note:  Do not use railroad ties or other treated lumber in your garden because of chemicals thay may leach into the soil.

Straw

Straw you may ask?  Yup, I specifically look for those fabulous kitchy vintage Hawaiian straw tote bags .  Often found at second hand stores and estate sales these bags make great containers for planting not mention a playful conversation piece in the garden.  Yes, I’m a bag lady and proud of it!  Here’s my latest straw bag planter project that I created from bags purchased at a local second hand store for $2.

Do you use junk in your garden?