Recycled Garden!

[Jayne402010]

Hi there! Just thought Id share my pics of before and after in my garden, which was until February destroyed by my sons doberman. It broke my heart to watch it become more and more of a mess but once I had decided to re home her for him then I started to plan a new design for my space outside! (Btw the doberman was re homed thru a trusted charity called homeward bound, we even drove to shannon from wexford to ensure she was handed over safely!) I took down what 6ft fences hadnt been blown down with the awful winds we had. I disassembled them and bought myself my first very own saw and got to work, sawing the slats in half and made fences. At least these won't fall down! Then I had to repair the arch which had rotted but was the only part of my original garden that was left, so the local sawmill and a €20 note sorted this out! I got decking really cheap after ringing around, it was February, the weather was crap and all places I spoke to said it was too early, but eventually I got a fantastic deal of last years decking stock which was left in the store in Wexford. Delighted I was too as he gave me a few left overs he had and they were the real thick timbers too! It pays to buy out of season! My brother came and laid it down with my nephew. I saved money by buying 8ft rough timber posts and sawing in half to use as posts and my son spent his weekend off work boring in holes for me! I am still trying to find rope to go thru these, somebody suggested a walk on the beach to locate it! I have yet to get there! But soon.... I will make it!
My friend was really generous and she gave me loads of logs which I varnished and used as edging for flower beds. Do you follow so far?.....!

[Jayne402010]

A lot of hard work, but was well pleased! And I love a challenge!

[Jayne402010]

I got a 6m x 3m poly tunnel from a site on e bay for €220 inc delivery ( this I did by selling unwanted clothing etc on e bay and it eventually tallied up to the cost of the tunnel and decking lights!).
Decking lights were €20 for 8 and solar powered. All for nothing except a few old unwanted clothes and shoes!!!
My son put in the lights and he put up the tunnel frame. ( I went for the galvanised for the strength!) Still this was over a hundred euros cheaper than buying a smaller one over here!
I spent a few hrs digging out the trench to bury the cover in. We fixed it down at the 4 corners using the legs of an old trampoline we have here! Its really strong!

[Jayne402010]

Then we pulled the cover over and I buried the sides! And its so brill in there! The humidity is unbelievable! There is loads of space and cos it was raining for days after we put it up I started my next project in there!

[Jayne402010]

I got a cheap table and chairs last year from Aldi (€60 I think). The chairs were useless, really small and not strong. I got 4 really nice ones off adverts.ie for €30 but was looking for a table. Then thought I had one already, so I got a few unused floor tiles I had and a few off another friend. Smashed them up in a carrier bag and using silicone attached them to the glass table top. The only thing I paid for was the grout, €10 for 5kg. But I have over half left and my next project will be mosaicing a wall in the garden so will use it for that! The point in putting up these pics was to prove that you can have a nice garden without paying ridiculous money and its tons more fun recycling stuff. I am always on the look out for stuff I can reuse, sadly on jumbletown there wouldnt be much coming up in Wexford, but I improvise. I love it!

[Jayne402010]

The planter was made from bits of left over decking, reversed the timber and used decking oil to paint it!
I actually enjoy going out in my garden now!
Hope to have all done so I can put grass seed down by end of May...

[mondubics]

That is fantastic, and I love the way you spread the pictures through the story! Well done.
If you haven't planted the planter yet, it might be an idea to line it with plastic (with holes in it for drainage) to reduce the possible impact of the preservative in the wood from affecting what you plant. When I put in a raised bed with old sleepers years ago, I forgot to do this, and couldn't plant veg. They were black when first I built the bed (I say 'I', but it was builders). Now they are as near white as they are going to get, what with rain etc.

[Jayne402010]

That is fantastic, and I love the way you spread the pictures through the story! Well done.
If you haven't planted the planter yet, it might be an idea to line it with plastic (with holes in it for drainage) to reduce the possible impact of the preservative in the wood from affecting what you plant. When I put in a raised bed with old sleepers years ago, I forgot to do this, and couldn't plant veg. They were black when first I built the bed (I say 'I', but it was builders). Now they are as near white as they are going to get, what with rain etc.

Thanks! I haven't planted the planter yet and wouldn't of thought of plastic, but will do that now! I saw somebody was mosaicing their wall on here, it looks fantastic and hope to do similar myself as garden is so big! Would love to incorporate a few sleepers myself somewhere in the garden, but unsure where as of yet. I am going for a rustic country garden even tho on the edge of town! Only put story up cos pouring down and frustrated I cannot get outside!!!

[Chris P]

Great post, Jayne402010!

Many thanks for sharing and inspiring!

Regards
Chris P
Admin

[Jayne402010]

Great post, Jayne402010!

Many thanks for sharing and inspiring!

Regards
Chris P
Admin

Thanks!!!
I hope to become inspired by browsing through the forums on here!
But for now I am going out to my polytunnel as the rain has stopped and I have been a prisoner indoors for far too long today! :)

[Leyazile]

I envy your garden :) What a fantastic transformation! Well done on the mosaic table.If you can't wait for the sea to blow some rope onto shore,check ebay.Search 'decking rope' and you'll find some cheap options, though no where near as fun as hunting the beach for it!

[melissabell]

Well done!!! I've layed bricks myself around the edges of my lawn to make it neater etc, you really feel more proud when you do it yourself. It looks fantastic and you've put so much hard work into it. It looks wonderful and your table is gorgeous. Really inspiring and very pretty ;)

[Jayne402010]

I envy your garden :) What a fantastic transformation! Well done on the mosaic table.If you can't wait for the sea to blow some rope onto shore,check ebay.Search 'decking rope' and you'll find some cheap options, though no where near as fun as hunting the beach for it!

Hi there!
Thanks for taking time to comment, am only back online now as the rains have returned and I am a bit like Noah here with two cats sheltering from it!!!

I did search E bay as I am a mad E bayer but whilst rope is cheap, the postal costs to Ireland per metre are absolutely ridiculous!
I have put ads up through facebook on local swap pages and hope this yields at least one positive reply! Sure, it doesn't hurt to ask eh?!
I am busy mosaicing a feature for the garden wall, but thought it best to mosaic onto wood and then fix it onto battens on the wall ( at least this weather doesn't stop my creativity then!)

[Jayne402010]

Well done!!! I've layed bricks myself around the edges of my lawn to make it neater etc, you really feel more proud when you do it yourself. It looks fantastic and you've put so much hard work into it. It looks wonderful and your table is gorgeous. Really inspiring and very pretty ;)

Thanks so much for your interest in replying to my little story!
I am going mad to get some red bricks, do you know if they cost a lot and/or where I would source them from? I am in the South East, Co Wexford and items do not seem to be as cheap down here as they would be in the big cities!

All suggestions greatly appreciated and taken note of!!!

[Jayne402010]

Mosaic wall. The side pieces are off an old coffee table!

Old barrel and a ten euro solar fountain from Hong Kong, took 2 weeks to arrive, but it was free delivery! And omg it works brilliantly!

[Jayne402010]

I got this for a tenner, it wasn't particularly sturdy. So I unscrewed the 3 pieces that were meant to put plant pots on and found a new use for them as a wall feature.
With the bottom piece I used it to grow a rose bush around!

[melissabell]

Thanks so much for your interest in replying to my little story!
I am going mad to get some red bricks, do you know if they cost a lot and/or where I would source them from? I am in the South East, Co Wexford and items do not seem to be as cheap down here as they would be in the big cities!

All suggestions greatly appreciated and taken note of!!!

what I ended up doing was selling bits and pieces online and bought my bricks for the lawn in Homebase. I needed alot though, but my neighbour had knocked part of his front wall and I got some off him to edge my tiny lawn in the front of my house I just used a chisel and hammer to get the concrete off them and they worked a treat.

I saw a program on TV a while back where people were doing renovations on a budget and sometimes if you ask builders at a building site or contact builders they have small amount left over from jobs that are no good to them so you could try that either. Best of luck but if I hear of any I'll let you know :)

[Pepperpixie]

fab work, just wondering where you ordered the solar fountain from?? I was thinking of getting one of these also, but wasn't sure if they actually worked or not??

[Jayne402010]

fab work, just wondering where you ordered the solar fountain from?? I was thinking of getting one of these also, but wasn't sure if they actually worked or not??

Hi there!
I got the solar fountain off E bay!
Just make sure to choose FREE postage and WORLDWIDE when choosing your options if you wanna get it as cheap as me!
There are ones a euro or so cheaper but they are from China and postage from China takes approx 6 wks (our summer could be over by then!)
So just pick HONG KONG, the delivery is approx 2 weeks.
Think you might even have a few cent left out of a tenner!

Btw, there are 3 different heads that come with it, but 2 seem to be the same. You can get a great height and sure, what's a tenner?!!(Used to be a packet of cigs for me, but 9 months smoke free now... Wey Hey...) Have just taken a pic of size of solar panel (4x4), hope this helps!
Jayne

[Jayne402010]

hi there, i was in Aldi today, great ald spot for bargains, anyway saw COIR YARN in there today n it made me think of you, lol, it looks like rope but thinner,( but u could join it, plait it or something) ??? there was 2 x 30m(or 15m) lengths in a bag for 2.79 euro. was different types there in a basket too, with your imagination id say u could "create" a nice rope feature outta it. it was new but looked old, if u get me, best of luck n love the garden n all your great work, x margaret.


Oh Margaret...
I got that when I saw it advertised in Aldi previously and I did try to plait it, but it just looked terrible, although I have used some as a scratching post for the cats out there in the garden and it seems to be working, keeping them off the tunnel! (They are quite happy to just flop out inside it and enjoy the heat when I let them!)
Fair play, Yes it is exactly what I have in mind. I will persevere, it has to be the right stuff else I won't be happy!
They did have composters reduced in Aldi, Bunclody last week to €14.99, was too big to fit in my car so went up 2 days later with bigger car and they had gone :(
Apparently different Aldi stores have different reductions depending on what doesn't sell, so couldn't get one here in Enniscorthy, else I would of walked home with it for that price!
Am back to online geneaology research today whilst it pours down outside. Keep dry!!!

[DaveMag]

Wow, that's some great results!! Your garden is really beautiful. I wonder how much money and time did you put in "redesigning" it? This mosaic table is really great!

Congratulations, you deserve it!

[Jayne402010]

Hi there!

To be perfectly honest I did not put any large amount of money into my garden at all, the only thing I paid for were the decking timbers out of season (so I got them cheap!) Everything else is recycled, it has had to be, the recession has hit me along with the rest of the country!
I sell unwanted stuff I have on Ebay or local buy and sell pages through Facebook, thus enabling me thee extra bit of cash to put into my 'outside room'.
It is amazing the amount of ornaments etc you find you do not need in order to fund your project!
I managed to get my rope from a chandlery at last as all efforts to beg/swap/find the stuff came to nothing. The cost was €44, which was 2chains and a mixed lot of jewellery I sold! (One womans junk really is another womans treasure!)
Thanks for taking the time to look at my post!
Oh and anyone reading this, a cautionary tale.....
Upon putting my rope up, it poured down, the next morning It looked like I had a wrestling ring in my back garden! Yep, I had somehow forgotten in my excitement that rope shrank when it got wet! So I had to redo it all! I would say I lost at least a metre of the stuff due to shrinkage. Be Warned!!! Don't be as daft as me!

[Jayne402010]

Finally the stuff I had hoped to get for free I had to purchase!
The man who ran the chandlery was quite honestly the most unfriendly fella I have ever met, unless it was my over enthusiasm for the rope that made him Mr Uncommunicative!

[Bohemian_In_Dublin]

This is beautiful what you have done
Thank you for sharing :)

[noni]

Well done, Its lovely, I'm away off to source one of the solar fountains like yours on Ebay! Thanks for all the info.

[Leahsmam]

brilliant job. well done :-)

[Pacman]

Love it, love it, love it! Well done - what an amazing transformation, full of ingenuity.

[Mickey]

I wish there was a LOVE IT button on this forum! Well done :)

[ronan1985]

This is a real work of love, creativity and vision on your part. Well, well done. Truly an inspiration!

[alowishes]

A lot of hard work, but was well pleased! And I love a challenge!
Fantastic; a joy to see, congratulations. Great incentive for all of us. I must take out my camera and take photos of my back garden , approx 10ft x 10ft now a rubbish dump with lots of resolutions surrounding it. Thank you