I spent a few hours of Monday afternoon bunking off work so that I could spend a bit of time in the garden, pulling up quite a lot of weeds from a couple of beds that I have totally neglected. I want to bring them back to a state of being usable and convert them to no dig like the others.
As I was filling the bucket with weeds, my mind was wandering to all the little parts of my veg patch that I really enjoy, and I realised that most of them are quite quirky, creative solutions that I put in place because it was a cheap option. It’s part of gardening that has always appealed to me, even in childhood when we’d go on family walks past a row of allotments on the Lizard peninsula I’d enjoy seeing tyres being used to grow things.
Here are a few of my favourites for some inspiration ahead of spring this year…
Greenhouse
Made from old windowframes and doors – some of which were reclaimed from a pile on the side of the road, some which were old windows from a nearby property where I live. They’re cobbled together with some chunky posts and a bit of extra timber from an old broken shed.
It’s been there since 2019, so I’m hoping to get at least one more year from it to make it a 5 year investment!
Messy Herb Bed
If you look closely, you may see some tree stumps hidden among the herbs. They would have been such hard work to dig up to put in an extra bed, so I decided just to plant herbs around them. I really love this little patch, it looks so natural and wild in the height of summer, and it adds something very different to the rows of raised beds.
Wine Bottle Beds
These always get good comments from visiting friends! I love them. It was an idea I pinched from a post on Pinterest when I first set out with growing my own veggies (Pinterest is a great source of inspiration by the way) – over several years I’ve gathered wine bottles from my own recycling bins and asked friends, neighbours and family to keep them for me, and they make great edges for veg beds. Long lasting and they don’t rot like wood!
Bamboo Trellis Fence
Made from bamboo that I chopped down from some rapidly spreading clumps in the neighbours garden. I loved the look of this – I originally put it in place to keep my chickens out of the veg garden. It survived two or three seasons, but came down last year and, in the interest of time and needing to save my veg, I replaced it with a boring chickenwire and post fence. But… it looked so lovely, and it was quite a fun project to do with my nieces and nephews. I had a few mangetout peas growing up it too – really great.
Squash Boat
This old row boat turned out to be a great little planter (and now I use it as a compost pile) – It’s one of those small lightweight plastic tenders with a wheel at the front – I rescued it from a friend who was going to get rid of it, wheeled it home and parked it in the veg patch as an instant squash patch. I’ve also got a wheelbarrow of strawberry plants, an old coal scuttle of mint and some logs that have rotted in the centre that make great little pots!