Repurposed Garden Beds Save Money and the Environment by Mandi Leigh

 

Watermelons growing in an old vanity.

Growing a garden is a rewarding hobby.  There is so much satisfaction in eating a crisp cucumber or a juicy tomato fresh off the vine that you personally grew. With food shortages and inflation, growing a garden has never been more important. But as costs of materials such as lumber, fencing, and fertilizers continue to rise, starting a raised garden without a bucket of money can be daunting.  A simple 4-foot by 8-foot wooden raised garden bed can cost well over $100 while beds made of decorative block can cost over $1000. One way to curb the costs of garden materials is to repurpose old items that are slated for the landfill.  Here are 6 items, that can be repurposed into a raised garden bed for cheap or free.

1. Outdated Entertainment Shelves

Gone are the days of big boxy television sets, clunky game consoles, and hefty DVD players. Yet the shelving units that used to hold these outdated electronics are ever present. They have been seen on the curb, in thrift stores, or yard sales. Quite often, they have a piece of ripped out notebook paper taped to the front with the word FREE scratched on it. With a little ingenuity, and a friend with a truck, these old units can be placed on their back and filled with soil for an instant raised garden. 

Here is an outdated entertainment center with tomatoes and green beans growing in it.

2. Bookshelves

Hardcopy books are a thing of the past thanks to space saving eReaders and audio book apps. With the rise of minimalism and lackluster for dusting knick-knacks, book shelves are finding their way to the landfill. Used shelves can be placed on their back and repurposed into a raised garden bed. Find them for cheap or free on social media market places, thrift stores, yard sales, or even curbside.

A small bookshelf that was marked for the landfill was repurposed to hold yellow squash and pumpkin plants.

3. Bathtubs

Updating a bathroom is exciting, but the old outdated materials typically go straight to the dump. An old bathtub makes an excellent raised garden. It is equipped with a hard bottom that keeps gophers from climbing through, and the drain plug helps with adequate water drainage. Hit up your friend doing that remodel or ask contractors in your area. You may be helping them out by hauling away the old tub. Just be sure to get lots of help, as they can be heavy.

This bathtub, filled with soil, mulch, red wiggler worms, and cucumber plants, was scored at a yard sale for $5.

4. Old Appliances

It can be a burden trying to get rid of an appliance that no longer works. Instead of taking them to the landfill, they can serve as outstanding raised garden beds. Dishwashers and laundry washers and dryers often have tubs inside of them that can be used to grow plants. A well placed refrigerator that has already had the Freon and electrical components professionally removed can be a great raised bed with a height perfect for weeding without back problems.

An old dishwasher tub is full of sprouting green onions. 

5. Lockers or Cabinets

When an old locker or small tool shed breaks, or is no longer useful, an easy solution is to get rid of it. These garden sheds were about 3-foot by 6-foot, so they didn’t hold many tools. Instead of tossing them, they were placed on their back and filled with rich soil. 

This garden locker was too small to hold all of the gardening tools, so it was repurposed into a raised garden bed.

6. Sand boxes

The delight that comes from watching your child play in the garden is indescribable. But like weeds, children grow quickly. The plastic big box store sandbox that was once a go-to favorite for the youngsters may no longer be play worthy as they get older. Instead of tossing these, repurpose them into raised garden beds. It may be worthwhile to drill a few drainage holes in the bottom before filling them with soil, but they make a great growing space.

Zucchini growing in an old sandbox. This sandbox was found on a curbside with a sign that said “free” on it. Our kids played with it for a few years before outgrowing it. Double bonus now that it is a repurposed garden bed. It stayed out of the landfill twice!

7. Dressers

The handle breaks, or the wood lining of the drawers fall out making the dresser useless. When a piece of furniture breaks, they go out on the curb awaiting bulk trash pickup. But a broken dresser makes a perfect garden bed. Just remove the drawers. Place the drawer-less dresser on its back for an immediate repurposed garden.

This cracked child’s dresser is great for cucumbers and butternut squash. The old refrigerator rack holds the trellising plants in place.

Bonus tip: Use old drawers from the cabinets and dressers

Sometimes only 1 drawer breaks in the dresser or filing cabinet. Instead of tossing the functional drawers, fill them with garden soil and grow something great in them!

Using repurposed materials is an economical way to build a garden, and it is environmental friendly given less trash makes it to the landfill.  Thinking outside of the box is an important gardening skill. What are some other items that could be repurposed as a raised garden?