Recycle, repurpose, reuse is a mantra of environmentalists. Hopefully, you’re already practicing the first and last of the “3Rs.” Recycling has long been part of our weekly trash pickup. I’ve long advocated for reusing, as in reusing plastic nursery pots. They’re light weight and easier to clean than your decorative pots. If you just slip a reused nursery pot into a decorative pot, you not only save some work but you save a nursery pot from the landfill.
I even used a five-gallon bucket as my repurposed garden caddy. The one bucket did multi-duty as a tool caddy, trash bin, and aid for rising up from a kneeling position. When I wanted to work sitting down, it became a stool just by turning it over.
Today, I want to concentrate on repurposing. How many times have you seen unique planters and wondered why couldn’t you do that. Well, you can, and that’s repurposing. People are using unused livestock drinking troughs for raised beds, so much so that the manufacturers are making them in different shapes, sizes and colors for gardeners. New is nice but isn’t it better if you can rescue one from the trash, clean it up, give it a little love and watch it become a home for some of your garden plants?
I’m sure you’ve seen Madonnas of the Garden – statues of St. Mary in a bathtub turned on end. This may or may not be your idea of garden art but there are so many creative ways to display both plants and statuary using some cast-off items like wheelbarrows, coaster wagons, and anything else that strikes your fancy.
The photo is of one of my favorite repurposing projects. Our town operates a swap shop in conjunction with its recycling facility. When a friend was dropping off donations, she saw this antique soda cooler and immediately claimed it. Besides the unique wood exterior, the cooler had a galvanized metal interior and a drain hole. Perfect to hold plants.
After spending some time during the winter cleaning and antiquing it with white paint and a black overglaze, she had the nicest elevated planting bed. Today, the repurposed soda cooler is the focal point of her deck and patio container garden. With that garden, she doesn’t have to walk to the back corner of her two plus acre yard to plant, tend or harvest. She just steps outside the kitchen door.
Repurposing ideas are as many as you can imagine. They include such things as birdhouses made of hollowed-out gourds and other unique materials. In my back garden, we have numerous pieces hanging from wrought iron shepherd’s crooks. I’ve seen gardens planted in everything you could imagine, even pickup truck beds and the trunks of abandoned cars.
I’ve repurposed my indoor garden and office extensively. The desk that I’ve used for the last 40 years is a round top dining room table from my mother-in-law’s basement and the table behind me is a drop leaf from the same place. Some of my Tillandsia collection live in a piece of cactus log and others live in repurposed frozen food trays.
Repurposing is fun but more importantly, it’s good for the environment. Best of all, it’s a great way to show off your creativity and whimsical sense of humor.
Read more in my critically acclaimed book, The Geriatric Gardener: Adaptive Gardening Advice For Seniors. Order your copy at https://thepancoastconcern.com/the_geriatric_gardener
The Geriatric Gardener 