From Junky to Funky: Designing Your Outdoors with the 3R’s In Mind…

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I was watching today a show on the DIY channel called From Junky to Funky. What they do on the show is find what some would consider junk and repurpose those items into something useful. Like in the picture above from MyGreenGarden.ca What a great idea to recycle old items and wouldn’t it be great if we all did that, it would sure keep a lot out of the landfill. So this is the first of the Junky To Funky Series and we will start in the garden.

When you think about redesigning your Garden, start with the 3R’s of the environment. Reduce/Reuse/Recycle. Go around the house, the garden and all the sheds you have and look at everything with a fresh eye. Look at all the “stuff” you have and ponder what you could use it for that maybe it was not designed for.

An old pile of bricks, could be turned into a new patio/dining area or maybe a path.
An extra piece of wood fencing could be turned into a table top.
Old chipped flower pots that are no longer pleasing to the eye, could still be used as planters, but bury them in the ground instead for easy planting and removal of annuals.
Old pressure treated fence posts could be used to mark the perimeter of planting beds, or used as steps in an incline.
Old Patio furniture can be revamped with new Garden Furniture Cushions and a little paint.
Old wrought iron fencing can be used as a trellis to train vines or as decoration on an outside wall.
Old tires can be reused as planters.
Turn an old hose into a soaker hose, simply use a whole punch to punch wholes in it at different intervals, lay it in a planting bed around the flowers, then turn the water on, on a timer.
Broken up concrete can be used as stepping stones.
If you hand your clothes out to dry, use an old bleach bottle with a handle and cut a big opening opposite the handle. Place your clips in there and before you put up your line, thread the line through the handle of the bottle , and now you have the clips handy as you are hanging the laundry.
Another use for used plastic water bottles, is to cut the bottoms off, leave the cap off and bury upside down next to water thirsty plants, that way the water goes straight to their roots and you wont need to water so often.
Spare wood can be turned into bird houses.
Hang an old mirror on the side of a shed, it will give the garden a new perspective.
Old paint cans can be decorated,, filled with sand and used for keeping your small gardening tools in so that they don’t get rusty.
Create a Compost bin out of some old wood, anything organic can be thrown into the compost pile.
Save old sheets for those freezing winter nights to protect you more delicate plants.
An old wooden ladder can be used to decorate the side of a raised planting bed or hung up on a wall for architectural interest.
Large pieces of broken colored glass can be used as a rain chain. Just wrap thin wire around the glass at different intervals then hang from a corner of the house of shed. Don’t forget to put something under it to collect the rain.
Use old wine barrels to collect rain.

Put your noodle to work and you will find uses for all those old things, and make your garden more interesting to look at while helping out the environment at the same time.

If you have any other ideas please share them with us, in the comments…

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environment garden recycle recycled art reduce reuse the 3rs
March 30th, 2008 at 09:20 am by bibi in Junky to Funky, Living Green, Recycle, The 3 R's

bibi

Comments

Jen / domestika Said,
What a terrific picture! And what a great use fo an old screen door and window frames. Is that one of those metal dragonfly ornaments that’s mounted there, the kind you see on garden stakes sometimes? Nice! Thanks for the tip on sand buckets for storing the garden tools, too - a handy way to keep the trowels in one place and rust-free!
bibi Said,
Hey Domestik Godess,
Not sure about the dragonfly, I got the picture from MyGreenGarden, but that’s what it looks like to me also. Check out her site it has some really good gardening tips and more pics.
The sand buckets are a great tip, I think it also helps to oil the tools once in a while also.
Thanks for stopping by, and remember to add your own tips here.

Bibi
Green Home Improvements Said,
Use some of the spare wood for bat houses, bats will keep away your insects. I would also suggest making homes for skunks since they love to eat grubs but most people do not want skunks in their back yards.

Broken pavers make great edging for flower gardens. A few towns have mulching days where you can bring your branches and they will turn them into mulch, flower gardens love mulch!

If your looking for old window sashes like the ones in the picture, hunt down your local window installer they will give them away. Most of the ones that we remove are used by local artist (my day job is replacing windows).
bibi Said,
Great tips, GHI personally I don’t mind the skunks, love to watch all animals even if they do stink a little.
The pavers tip is great, I’m getting ready to replace some pavers right now and will take your advice and reuse them to edge my flower beds.

Thanks for stopping by…
Green Home Improvements Said,
If you want to make your own pavers, quickrete sells some different molds. I did about 105′ long x 2′ wide at my home using their mold with a random stone looking pattern. Mixing your own concrete for the molds allows you to stain the concrete and add fibers to the mix so the concrete pavers will not fall apart like the cheap store bought ones.

You might be able to carefully place scrap metal and glass into the molds so it adds to the surface look.
bibi Said,
I’ll look into Quickcrete because I do want to make my own… your giving me all kinds of ideas

Thanks for the tip….
Lisa Said,
I saw a show on TV where they were taking up some old bricks in a yard and instead of trashing them, they re-built them into a fire pit. Then they put some bench seating around so it became a great outdoor entertaining area.
Rain Barrel Richard Said,
I’m going to start watching that show from now on. Recycling old items is such a great idea. I found it funny when a friend once told me he should turn the casing of his old computer into a birdhouse, but it’s such a great idea. The holes and vents in the back ought to be big enough for smaller birds to fit through.
Henry of Table Lamps Said,
I’ve seen other shows that show how to put junk to good use. The most impressive thing that I have seen before was hanging beer bottles as a wind chime. And cutting up beer cans and making it into an airplane. it gave the backyard I saw a unique look.