When buying land for a homestead or farm we are often faced with what other land owners left behind for us to clean up. I am sure everyone who has land or property has dealt with something someone has left behind that you wish they hadn’t. Considering the cost of dump fees or roll off dumpsters, sometimes there are better ideas than throwing more junk into a landfill.
When we purchased land we were faced with old tires, boat hulls, appliances, and old fencing. So it got me thinking how to beautify or utilize these left behind eyesores. I like to grow food and love greenery in abundance surrounding me. Turning a problem into a green solution I came up with a common list of things often left on property and how to use them for gardening.
1: Used tires
Oh my! All those old- used tires left for me. Disposing of tires is rather costly as it turns out, I researched many solutions for getting rid of 300 plus tires and no one option was cheap. So I decided to use them for flower beds, planters, container walls, and individual container for gardening. These old tires actually saved me thousands of dollars in material for raised bed gardening.
2: Old boats
Believe it or not I have seen property with used boat hulls left on it and look like they have been there for twenty years. With a little paint for the outside, and soil inside, you can grow something easily inside and beautify that old hull.
3: Old tubs
People have been using tubs for decades as outdoor planters, even if the tub isn’t a beautiful claw foot tub, it is still a container to grow in.
4: Used windows and doors
This is my favorite thing to find actually, I have built many window and door panel huts and buildings. They make a great greenhouse environment for anything you might want to grow. Just need brackets and screws really to connect all the panels and panes. These simple greenhouse boxes would be great for more delicate crops.
5: Washers, dryers, and fridges
Yes they are bulky and ugly but you can partially bury them and then grow stuff that overhangs the outside and a container is born. Using old junk to grow stuff in, can save you tons of money on containers and /or material for containers.
6: Chain link fence
Everyone has come across the old pile of chain link fence or partial fences scattered around the property that were never completed or fixed. Well don’t be discouraged they have a purpose. Taking the chain link fence pieces and running them in rows can really be a great wall for vine fruits and vegetables to grow on.
7: Rusty car
Cars are hard to move if they have been sitting there for a long time and could be expensive to remove. But you could grow around and top of the old car and create a mini habitat for wildlife and critters. I wouldn’t suggest using food for this but possibly flowers and grass.
8: Old aluminum television antennae
An old antennae could be used for hanging vine plants like tomatoes and grapes. How many times have we built some kind of thingy for tomatoes? Just take that old antennae and go stick it in the middle of your growing area and grow something off of it. Then it disappears and has a function too.
9: Used bricks and blocks
The more containers the better, so take that pile of old bricks and make containers for your garden area. They can look nice and have a function.
10: Scrapped horse troughs and animal feeders
There always seems to be some kind of animal feeder laying around that can no longer hold water. You guessed it, another container to grow in.
So you got the idea, old junk around your land can actually save you money in container gardening. I hope this gives you some inspiration in odd ways to container garden. It’ all about saving money and resources, so be creative and grow something, for your gardening future.
