Allotments 4 All

I'm feeling skint so I'm looking for ideas of items to use as large growing containers - preferably cheap/free or from something that could be recycled.

I already plant a lot of stuff in builders buckets (bought for a £1 each & drilled holes in bottom), use the county council recycling boxes for growing salad (big enough to hold moisture & has handy drainage hols already in bottom & I turn away th Shropshire CC logo) and ex-wooden veg boxes from the local shop lined with plastic/cardboard as seed trays.

If you've got any other ideas for containers &/or photos of them in use then please let me know!

Thick black bin-liners can make great spud sacks - make some holes in the bottom - roll them down, fill with compost and plant spuds.  Unroll as you earth up.   
Empty compost bags work well...
Not very attractive but never mind that eh!

I turn my empty compost bags inside out so that the plain side faces out and plant excess spuds in them.  Marginally less unattractive!

- you can use those polystyrene boxes that fish come in. it'll be well-insulated for plants that would need overwintering.

-i managed to get a really nicely made wooden wine box (with french writing!) that i managed to acquire some yrs ago, but it was a big effort to get hold of one box, let alone several from the various wine merchants around the city. most of them wanted them for deliveries, or for display stands in their shop.

-i hear of some ppl use old shopping trolleys for growing carrots in as a deterrent against carrot fly, tho' with the large expanse, you'd be able to grow quite a fair few veg, like courgettes that would require lots of space, but they'll be able to trail and hang off the sides.

-council household refuse bins

- plastic storage boxes. i use these for a cheap way of installing a wildlife pond at home and at the lotti. they're sunken into the ground and with bricks in one corner and a ramp over it for the wildlife to climb in and out.

- builders bags that sand come in. altho' they're really big, i've seen these being used in community gardens.

- tyres. stack these up, and you'll be able to grow quite decent permanent plantings.

- doors, decking, skirting. at the lotti, OH made a coldframe using an old french door sunken into the ground.

Plastic water butts which have developed a leak can be cut into rings.

I had 2 out of a skip, sawed each into 3 rings and ended up with a row of 6 in a raised bed effect at the front of my plot.  Easy to manage too - rip a couple up when you need access for manure dumping.

Our local Lidl is happy to let me have all their empty flower buckets..with just couple of holes made into bottom, they make good size containers for chillies, peppers and container tomatoes.
AND..they also let me have their blue mushroom baskets..handy as trays for holding smaller pots or lined with old compost bag make big enough container for salad leaves or herbs...or you could grow some mushrooms in them.. ;)

What some great suggestions - any more anyone?

Hessian bags bought from the supermarket are only a pound they are like the bags for life but are hessian instead of plastic.
They look attractive and have handles for carrying. You can easily move them round the plot. Just cut out the plastic liner and there is no need for making holes in them. They would be  fantastic for growing any type of vegtable in a back yard as they take up very little space. 

Click coffee machine cups are good for potting seedlings on into.

my biggest two recycling projects are a collapsable 5ft wide 3ft high (headboard end) campbed (i'm a cub leader and don't believe in roughing it) and (still ongoing at the mo) 8ft by 7ft shed with an 8ft square decking area at my allotment, raised 3ft of the ground on old tyres, filled with compacted earth, to give me some undershed and decking storage area.

you can also use old tyres for strimmer guards around trees.

Hessian rots easily so it wouldn't be much good for growing stuff in. I use the bags for drying seed.

The Hessian bags last for a season and are cheap enough to replace for the next growing cycle.

Hoe about those big bags from builders merchants? people are very happy to get rid of them once they are empty!

Quote from: Mr Pepper on December 26, 2011, 22:41:35
Hoe about those big bags from builders merchants? people are very happy to get rid of them once they are empty!

I've used them... two words of warning, they take a lot of stuff to fill deeply enough to grow some things (like spuds and carrots), which makes them too heavy to move once filled and they seem to need a lot of watering......

Hoe about those big bags from builders merchants
I was thinking trying one by half filling it first with straw bales to get some bulk and topping it up with compost from bin. I should imagine wet bales would hold on to moisture well.. :-\
they seem to need a lot of watering...... hmm..perharps I should line the bag with polythene to stop it being so freely draining.. :-\

Plastic dustbins
Toy tubs
Builders sand bags
Kitchen bins
;D

Quote from: goodlife on January 01, 2012, 12:31:53

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Hoe about those big bags from builders merchants
I was thinking trying one by half filling it first with straw bales to get some bulk and topping it up with compost from bin. I should imagine wet bales would hold on to moisture well.. :-\

Code Select Expand

they seem to need a lot of watering...... hmm..perharps I should line the bag with polythene to stop it being so freely draining.. :-\

I looked at that 1st off for when i started my allotment and i though of cutting the bags in half and inserting a pallet at the bottom for drainage and ripping apart another pallet to make 4 uprights so i could drape plastic or netting over but could not rip the pallets i had up :)

If your not already join your local freecycle group and see what you can get there in terms of bits of wood for making planters.

You dont say how much room you have to play with though?