I came by my junker's eyes naturally. My mom has always found a use for every scrap of anything. It’s not just her use of the "under-valued" that inspires me, but the way she has always fostered the awakening of its hidden potential.
For several years, her canvas has been her garden. Excuse me. . ."Grandkid's Garden." This is the place that each of her 10 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren have planted seeds and the place where seeds have been planted in each of them.
In my attempt to capture the beauty of the garden encounters with the kiddos, I wrote this book almost 10 years ago: https://www.westbowpress.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/358939-a-little-perspective .
I still tear up when I read it, because I've seen so many seeds sown into so many lives in that garden. . .and I've seen the fruit.
Back to using junk in the garden. . .
Basically, whatever most people would throw away are the treasures of a junker's garden. If it can hold dirt, it can be a garden. All of the wooden garden boxes in my mom's garden are built with wood that someone was throwing away (old deck wood, pallets, etc.) Other beds are in old grills and grill lids, wagons, wheel barrels, and tires.
If it can support a climbing plant, it has a new purpose in the garden. Broken handles from brooms to garden tools and pipes to curtain rods are ready to offer support to this year’s cucumber crop.
I really wanted to focus on the junk with this post, but check back later for an even more inspiring beautiful garden in bloom post. For now, show us how you reuse things in your garden.
