Doesn't anybody go trash trolling anymore and find benches, beds, containers, tables, toys, or treasures? How about thrift store finds of junk that can be repurposed and imrpovised into something else? This is still one of the most active forums, BUT IT'S IN A RUT!!!!! Some of the forums have only had three posts in the past two years. I don't know why they still exist. This one on the other hand is humming along with a bazillion different versions of the same old story. Really! How many different ways can Goldilocks visit the three bears anyway?

Is anyone out there covering the top of an old buffet with copper to make a potting bench? Anybody using shovel blades for edging a flower bed? How about planting flowers in collandars, or creating a living roof on a potting shed, or paving a path with roofing shingles? I used to read so many innovative ideas here that I felt inspired. Lately, I look in Garden Junk and find post after post about totems. C'mon friends, don't just copy, copy, copy, think and go forward, let your imaginations flo-o-o-w.

Oh, and happy gardening. Cheryl

Each thread has a title, so if bowling balls or totems are not your thing, you can choose a thread more to your liking... or post one of your own.

it's the same way that I felt, the day I found it, back in 2003...it was so absolutely off the wall and I felt like I had just come out of darkness, doldrums, depression and then WHAM!..I found GJ and for all these years, no matter how many different ways dishes and cups can be stacked, they're still new to the person making them.
don't diminish that fun and effort from anyone.
if you want new things,,then make suggestions of something you have in mind.
someone will take it and run with it...
then, you'll see your ideas show up in pictures.

here's an example......
anyone have an old tired, rusty set of bed springs in their garage, shed, propped up against the house????

how about a challenge...
get it out and DO something with it~

I actually have a fold up bed spring out in the yard.
it's been there for a very long time.
the county gestapo guy suggested I throw it away.
well, I defended it, on the pretense it's garden junk and it's a trellis.
no, I have not planted around it..
I've been either rained out of the yard work, or too close to a stroke, to do much of anything out there..
but it's still waiting for me to create a nice trellis.

and I kid you not about the stroke...
my blood pressure has been skyrocketing, since I've been dealing with the county about my garden junk.
I read all these posts daily, with diligence cuz it's my way of keeping in touch with something near and dear to my heart, without it going out on me and quit ticking....

or another idea...challenge...

how about a wobbly old small table...what can be made from it..or a barbeque grill, destined for the landfill?

any takers on my challenge?
I can spout out ideas but right now, I can't follow through with the strength to carry it out...

old roaster pan, for planter.
old lamp base
old bed frame
old trellis
old swingset
old toy tractors, cars, bulldozers
old wagons
chairs in the garage
old medicine cabinets
old hobby horse
old birdcage
old school desk
old bike
old crib
old highchair
and yes, I have an old buffet, in the carport....
and an old bookcase
and old cement planters, on pedestals
and 3 rusty rake ends, with no handle
and axe, with no handle
and shovels, with no handles...

so, while I take my meds, drink hot cocoa, watch old movies of John Wayne or Patrick Swayze, how about someone create some garden junk art....
we'll all enjoy it..and hopefully copy it.......

what say y'all??

Since this is the first time I've seen you post anything on our forum, I'd have to say that you haven't really looked through out inspiration album or even though the posts from the past few weeks...sure, there are lots of totems! I myself make them and love having them in my garden, but there are tons of other ideas here too...all you have to do is look. There are bird feeders, greenhouses, planters of EVERY kind, tipsy buckets, pole feeders, fences, rusty items, just every kind of creative garden junk decor you can think of. I agree with spedigrees....if you dislike totems so much, I suggest you skip those posts and move on to something more to your liking. There is something for everyone here and those of us who have been around a couple of years or more try to both encourage and lend advice to all of the new folks joining the GJ forum. We are a group of friends here...and we are happy to look at anything anyone one has created....and enjoy it! Hope you'll feel like posting some of your creations sometime...we'd love to see them!

Oh, by the way I was dumpster diving yesterday behind the bowling alley because they told me that they had just thrown out some old balls. If wading thru a weeks worth of half eaten fast food complete with shall we say "critters" crawling all over the bags to get to balls that of course sink to the bottom isn't junk hunting I don't know what you would call it.

Seamommy I don't know you and wouldn't want to offend anyone here, but I'm a very blunt person as it seems you are. My thought to you - as others have said - would be read the headline of the post. If you aren't interested in someone's new totem or first bowling ball don't click on it.

As a newbie to garden junk, if what I have been looking at and admiring isn't actual garden junk by all means please post some of your creations to better educate us all.

And I'm going to take the liberty of apologizing for you to all those that you inadvertently offended. As I've said I'm a blunt person too and I know how what sounds ok in your head is hurtful to those that hear it sometimes.

So for anyone that was offended or whose feeling may have been hurt by Seamommies comments, I apologize. Please keep posting your awesome creations. Glass totems, bowling balls, plate flowers, etc are garden junk. And I haven't seen a bad one in the bunch!

Anyway, I love this forum. I love the bowling balls and totems and everything else people are working on. And most of all, I love the fact that I can post something here without fear of getting some snarky remark. I dearly hope it stays that way!

(Okay, so I guess I'm kinda blunt too. Sorry, but you're dissing people I like and that ain't cool.)

Yes things go in cycles, I remember it with dish flowers, bowling balls, and especially Totems. Most of us love seeing them, as all are so different. I imagine Totems will always remain a "favorite" here.

When I set up our GJ Inspiration albums, it was to insure we had a LOT of different garden junk ideas saved to look at and be inspired by. There's around a 1000 pictures in our albums now. Totems have their own album,
and I separated things as best as I could so those not interested in something, didn't have to wade thru a ton of pictures of it. Hopefully the albums are easy to browse.

I come here every evening and see plenty of different things. Yes, I'd love to see a 'return' of the bed benches and other wood things. And I'm sure I will. But meanwhile, I love looking at it ALL.

But for now, Gang, lets welcome seamommy here and hope she finds things that interest her. She may have ruffled some feathers at first 'read' of her post, but I don't believe for a minute she was trying to offend anyone. Sometimes being blunt backfires, LOL.
The best part of this Forum is that we don't snipe at one another and we have a good time. Lets keep it that way.

hugs, Karen

The very best thing about this board is the friendliness and encouragement of everybody! It's like getting together with friends who willingly share their creativity.

Seamommy, I don't think you've given the board enough of a chance. There are so many ideas posted here. Please share your own projects and ideas...especially "new" ideas. We're always open to new inspiration, and I think you'll be surprised at the projects that we all do which are based on YOUR original ideas!

Linda

I have so much inspiration, and now have several projects in the works. I hope to post pictures if (when!) I get them done and put in place - old stepladders, rusty buckets and enamelware, metal toddlers bed, tin chicken feeders and nesting boxes, broken chairs, and so on and so on. My projects won't be ground shakingly new and inventive, but I was inspired by the fabulous work done by so many people here, and I think I will have a yard for my neighbors to talk about :-)!

In conclusion, I LOVE this forum and love to see ideas implemented in everyone's unique way. So keep the ideas coming ladies and gentlemen!

Patty

Linda

Things that are discarded are "junk". I love seeing junk recycled - whether it be a brass chandelier or rusty bed springs. Welcome ( back) seamommy ! I haven't had the pleasure of meeting you yet ... but I'm sure in time you'll be bursting with inspiration ! ( and be sure & post pictures when you make something wonderful!!) TMG

now, gotta do some gathering.
and I mean that in a good way.

garden junk prevails~

Anyway, welcome BACK seamommy, I must have joined after you left here. Tho with my stinkin' memory, who knows. LOL.

Patty, admit to visiting this Forum as much as you want.
Many of us check in multiple times daily. Its hard to walk past the computer and NOT check in. LOL.

Nona, while I wish you could post photos so we all could see your wonderful things, don't EVER say you don't help much! You are one of our 'backbones' of this Forum!!
I figure sooner or later, you'll get pictures in a Photobucket album to share with us, till then its great just to chat with you.

hugs, Karen

I've been in and out of bed twice already this morning.

it's a happy arena in this place.

But now as I see additional posts being made, it looks like lots of you are sprouting ideas (or pointing out the sprouts to those of us that are more blind, lol) to help us newbies spread our wings a little more ....

So thanks seamommy, way to go stirring the pot to get the flavors simmering together!

Patty

BTW knowing that it's hard to judge tone from an internet post, I mean this one in the most happy and positive way :-)

I really suck at complicated stuff like posting pics here or I'd love to share some things I've done recently in my garden. I got two ice-cream parlor chairs off a curb and removed the seats and backs. The opening for the seats was just the right size to drop in a spatterware canning kettle. So I punched several holes in the bottoms of two kettles (thrift store buys) and planted them with pink impatiens. The kettle lids I wired to the backs of the chairs.

Between the chairs is a little metal garden table I got off someones trash & painted moss green. On top of the table is a metal Victorian mini-greenhouse (no glass) that stands about 22" tall. In the winter I use it for a suet feeder for the birds since the openings between the wires are too small for the squirrels to get through.

I have a very old wheelbarrow that I dragged out of a ditch that makes a dandy planter. I confess I spent too much when I bought the antique square wash tub to use as a planter, but I always thought they look really cool, so I bought it. An old iron headboard bolted to the side of the garage makes a good trellis for Climbing America.

I never did anything with a bowling ball cause I couldn't find one when I wanted to. So I went to the thrift stores and bought every plastic kids play ball I could find. Took them home and cut a 6" hole in one side of each one. Then I mixed up cement and filled them up. I left the area flat where the hole was. This is the side that sits on the ground so the ball doesn't roll around. Then I let them dry out for about a month. In order to keep them from being flat on the side that sat on the ground while they dried I had to dig a rounded hole in the ground for them to sit in for that month. After they dried I cut the plastic ball off of them and let them dry for about another month before moving them. It's been enough years now that some of them have started to grow a little green moss on them and they look more like naturally occuring round stone balls.

I found a very old bicycle out behind the barn and parked it in a flower bed where the English ivy started climbing it. It's now covered with ivy and you can't see the bike anymore.

I was driving past an old house on the way to work one day and the old woman who lived there was outside trying to trim the grass around an old 30" iron cauldron by her front door. I stopped and offered to help her with it and she told me that if I really wanted to help her I should take that nasty old cauldron to the dump for her. So being the kind person that I am I took it and dumped it next to my well house where it now holds oxalis.

I found an old rusty kitchen rolling cart in a dumpster and dragged it home one day. After I cleaned it up and painted it cream color, I stenciled a couple of blushing pears on the top shelf. I liked it for a plant shelf, but DH never liked it so I sold it at a garage sale for $40. I know, I'm really bad.

I've made several wind chimes from old glass lamp shades that were made with holes along the bottom of the shade. I bought glass, silver and jade beads, and the wire for the danglies and scrounged miscellaneous silverplated spoons and forks from the thrift stores for the chimes. USe a hammer to flatten the flatware(?) and a 1/16 drill bit to make a hole in the handle. Use stainless wire so it doesn't corrode outdoors.

Use wall mounted light fixtures for bird feeders. Take out the bulbs and glue old sugars/cramers to the bulb socket. The fixtures already have a handy plate for hanging, so you can just stick a nail in a tree or fencepost.

If you have a chain link fence you have the perfect place for using shovel heads for bird feeders. Stick the handle end of the head into the holes in the fence and voila. The weight of the shovel head braces against the fence and it doesn't fall out. Use old fiberglass shovel handles to hold birdbaths and bird feeders made of old plastic bowls or plates. Fiberglass doesn't disentigrate in the soil the way wood does so they last a long time.

I found brick pavers at Habitat for Humanity and used them to put a floor in my greenhouse. I found a nice wood window on a curb and installed it in the east side of my potting shed. My mom was throwing out some old barstools and I got one of them to use to sit on in the potting shed. One of her neighbors threw out an old cedar porch post and I took it home and painted it white and set the end in concrete. I planted Climbing Dortmund next to it and topped it with a pineapple finial that I bought at the Lowes. Yes, I bought it, but it was on sale.

Old sugar bowls make good little bird feeders by attaching wire to the handles and hanging them in a tree. Old tea kettles look cute as planters if you poke a few holes in the bottom and hang them from a tree. You have to feed them though cause the kettle doesn't hold much soil, but they are nice with somthing like creeping pflox that will dribble out the spout and out the top of the kettle too.

I also love castles and built several of them using 6" PVC pipe sections cut to different lengths. I used hot glue to attach pebbles to the walls of the pipe. Then slathered on the concrete to fill in the spaces between the pebbles. I used plastic funnels for the circular roof and found sheet copper for the pointed roof caps. I used a plastic toy ice cream cone as a mold for the copper caps to give them texture. I wrapped the copper around the cone and rubbed it with a stylus until it took on the texture of the plastic cone. I also bought shingles for the roof from the hobby store and attached them with hot glue. I painted the shingles with acrylic paint to make them look aged and mossy, and laid down three coats of sealant to make the whole thing waterproof. I also filled the PVC tubes with expanding foam to they don't become homes to mice or fire ants. A couple of the castles have stained glass windows made from small wood scraps and bits of colored glass. I had to buy a box of stained glass shards from the hobby store and it cost me about $6, but I have enough glass to make about 400 tiny little castle windows.

I created a special place for the castles in my front garden, an escarpment with a path around it. The stones I used to build the rocky escarpment came from my mom's yard. She recently moved to a retirement home. These basalt volcanic stones are ones that I and my siblings hauled out of the woods in 1961 when we first moved to Texas. We'd go for a walk and when Mom saw a rock she liked she'd make us pick it up and carry it back to the house. I don't know how we did it, some of these stones weigh about 30 lbs. But every one of them is a treasure memory and I'm not leaving any of them at the old home place.

On the far side of the path from the castle hill is a stone bridge leading to a neighboring castle. The path is sunk about 6" from the land on either side of it and there are little ladders for the castle inhabitants to use when travelling from one castle to the other. They also have their own paths and some of their own stuff that they usually leave laying around, because they're kinda messy little folks. I haven't actually seen any of them yet.

I'm tired. Ya'll keep inspring me. I haven't posted in a long time, but I read the posts here all the time. Don't be mad at me and I'm sorry if anyone got their feelings hurt, I didn't mean to do that.

Happy gardening! Cheryl

"I'm tired. Ya'll keep inspring me. I haven't posted in a long time, but I read the posts here all the time. Don't be mad at me and I'm sorry if anyone got their feelings hurt, I didn't mean to do that."

You were just kidding, right? FYI...and you didn't help me get creative juices flowing but I'm happy that I "keep inspring!" Jeanne S.

So lets give Seamommy a friendly challenge. Why doesn't everyone post their most creative garden junk item in their garden and we can vote on whose is the best. Or maybe we could start right now, this second, and everyone start a hunt at their local thrift store, garage sale, curbside garbage pile and create something with it. Give everyone a week, a month or whatever to try to complete...have a deadline to post and we can vote. It would be a lot of fun and maybe that would get people excited and interested again? YES?

SLR8, you kind of jogged my pathetic memory...others can fill in the blank I'm sure. When I first joined, there was some kind of deal Project of the Month? POTM? It looked like such a fun idea. Who remembers this, and can explain how it worked? I think ONE person would pick a project, then others would do it too?

hugs, Karen

backup~

one time, a number of years ago, there was one regular who upended the apple cart, with this kind of comment.
it went on for quite a while, with many replies, the same as this one is getting.
it built to a cresendo and she left, with hurt feelings and others who remained, also had hurt feelings about it.

I'm an extremely non-confrontational person and I ordinarily would steer clear of this type of garbage but
we've all read comments thus far.
many have offered for some threads to be passed over, if that's not the topic of interest.
that's about the best advice given..hands down.

it was going at a great clip, with a hiccup and I'd like it to resume to that fast paced clip, with pictures posted, cuz it's what someone thought of to do and to finish and to share.

I don't want or need a challenge and for sure not a time frame or deadline and for double sure, not to be voted on.
I have enough of a complex to even get something started, or worked on, much less posted and gawd forbid, to have it voted on or judged!

I do take offense to the last sentence...

" It would be a lot of fun and maybe that would get people excited and interested again? YES?"

again???
I never even came close to losing the interest or excitement.
I never knew what hit, until it became a 'defensive play'.
and now, here I am, not wanting this to continue any further.

for those of you who may want to say more, go ahead.
I've made my last comment on this and for what it's worth, I never even made one dammed totem or one bowling ball.
and this won't ever stop me, if I should choose to make one.

do with it as you wish. :(

Purplemoon, there was a "project of the month" idea that we used a year or so ago. Lots of times it had a theme...like fourth of July or fall or Easter, etc. They were fun and I loved seeing what everyone made for the project.

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's new creations....no matter what they are!

Just recently I saw a post that had all the websites (and blogs?) for the members. I haven't nearly looked at all of them, but lots of inspiration there. I guess it needs to be bumped up.
My website is.....
http://members.cox.net/nonacook

The hard thing about choosing a winner is that they are all winners. I can see having a theme project so that we can 'ooo' and ahhh' and maybe learn a new technique. But I think competition runs counter to the support and encouragement and sharing of ideas that makes this site great. Just my humble opinion. Love you guys and gals,
-Sprout

Cheryl I feel like I should apologize to you for the rudeness of some of the posts. When you have the capability to post pics I'm sure you will. I feel deprived I don't have the ability to get great pics and post them yet. I couldn't afford a camera until recently. I just got a camera. I still have to learn to use. Time constraints make my days so full I may be a while in the learning process. I don't get to spend all day at the computer, between the job, the volunteer work, household, and yard and garden work I am a busy woman. I really hope not posting photos isn't keeping anyone from being part of the GWGJ.
Just give it a little time and I'm sure you'll see different projects, some new and some come around again. LOL

LIL

Micki

Friends - Carry on .

Cheryl - welcome back - and carry on .

Let this dead horse die.

Thanks,
Darlene

old lamp base- Attach plate or plater with epoxy for a bird feeder or pedestal
old bed frame- Make a flower bed or use it out of porch for an outdoor bed.
old trellis- I attach these to fences and place them all over my yard.
old wagons- Perfect for planting sedums or just as decorations
chairs in the garage-use to put pots on throughout the garden or take two similar ones and attach boards to the seats to make a bench. Use as a shelf by hanging on the wall or fence.
old bike- Great decoration for the yard! I love seing these
old crib- I take them apart and make trellis' out of them or use the sides as supports for my green beans etc. Currently one side of a crib is the gate for my chicken coop
rusty rake ends, with no handle- Hang on fence or wall to hold tools etc.