How I Made a Small Garden From Recycled Items
by
Cindy
3 Materials
$50
4 Hours
Easy
Now that we've been in our "new" foreclosure home after being in a duplex, I was so excited to put a garden in our backyard. Luckily, most of the garden structure design items were already in our yard... The bricks that were used for the boarder had been hidden under the giant palm bushes in the front yard flower bed. The old metal gate that the cucumbers are climbing up, was stuck in the corner of the backyard. I also reused the decorative features from my garden before last.
First, I laid out my little garden plot based on the amount of bricks I had. It's only about 2-3 feet deep because I didn't want it too far out in the yard. So I determined how many bricks from the fence I would need and just started lining up the bricks until I ran out. Then finished off the end with a line back to the fence.
Now I was ready for the defunct fence gate left by the previous homeowners and the other garden decorations from a previous garden. OH, and of course plants and dirt... lots of dirt! If I would have had extra time, I would have gotten dirt/manure from a local farm aka recycle even this but had to go to a gardening center for it.
Last but not least... adding plants. I used the gate for cucumbers to save ground space. I got lots of giant and delicious cucumbers by this method and trying it again this year. I also planted the squash and zucchini bushes near the edge of the garden since these are large plants and can also overwhelm a garden. Lastly, I added a layer of mulch to keep weeds from growing as much as well.
In this tiny plot of land, we had 9 pepper plants, several squash and zucchini, 5 or 6 cucumber, lemon balm, beans and some others. Another hint is when planting a small garden squeeze plants as close together as possible. It also helps keep the weeds down and during the hot sunny months the plants can somewhat protect each other.
Small gardening can be very rewarding with minimal effort. Using items already available is great for the wallet and the environment. Thinking outside the box like using the old metal gate for climbing plants. You'll save space and money and well, it just looks cool! Visit my blog for more fun posts about gardening, home projects, food, finance, and health&beauty.
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
Comments
Join the conversation
1 comment
-
Great idea, Cindy! I'm a huge fan of repurposing anything and everything I can!
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?