posted in recyling - 15-06-2010, 13:41

It's Summer and we're out in the garden enjoying the fruits of our labour... a retreasured garden (click to see photos).

We've lived here over ten years now and this is the third major change in layout we've done - but it's here to stay! It's set in stone this time, granite to be exact! A couple of years ago we built a kitchen extension, replaced a back wall and installed a cedar green-house twice the size of our old glass house. All this left us with a building site - excess soil, leftover wood, concrete blocks and rubble. We were determined to re-use whatever we could and reduce the use of skips as much as possible.

• Excess soil - used to fill raised beds all around the edge of the garden. This provides seating wherever the sun is at different times of the day, a better height to tend to vegetables, flowers, herbs, etc. and was meant to be a deterrent for our pet rabbit - but alas! she proved to be more athletic than we thought.
• Concrete blocks - these were mostly used to build the walls of the raised beds but some are also used as support for a deck built to level the ground beside the extension. Smaller pieces of rubble formed part of the foundations for the green house and paths.
• Leftover wood - various parts of the extension were delivered wrapped in wood and sitting on wood palettes. We removed as many nails and screws as we could and cut any that weren't otherwise usable down to a nice size for the fire. Leftover pieces of cedar cladding from the actual extension were used to clad the front of the raised beds.

As I type my partner, husband, gardener extraordinaire is digging the last patch of soil in the last corner to be reclaimed and retreasured. It was hidden beneath a trampoline which served to hide our awaiting bags of excess soil and a shady place for the rabbit to hang out. Now with the lawn fully grown and the sun out the children can once again enjoy centre stage on their trampoline while their pet Percy basks in their shade below.

Now all we need is a good Summer and we can eat the fruits of our labour at harvest time.