Posted by Craig | Posted in allotment | Posted on 28-06-2010
Tags: allotment, cafe direct, planting, salad, sow your own, structure, weather
As you will have picked up from yesterday’s post, I’m a big fan of Cafe Direct’s ‘Sow Your Own’ campaign.

So taking their ideas to heart, I started to have a look around what the previous tenants of our allotment had left behind.
My eyes lit up when I saw some solid old drawers from an old chest of drawers, and I immediately knew what I could do with them. I took the bottoms out of them, unscrewed the handles, and put them to use as raised beds!
It was obviously meant to be, as they are the same height as the other raised beds on my plot and fit in perfectly!

These were put to use straight away, and I planted my baby ‘Red Top’ turnip seedlings in the new raised beds.
I then turned my attention to what I could use at home to plant some more salad, as I like to do successional sowings throughout the summer to have a continuous supply.

For some bizarre reason, the previous owner of our house left behind one tyre, which had been lurking at the back of the garage for some time, and everytime I saw it, I made a mental note to get rid of it.
However, after a bit of hadywork, and a quick paint job, I had a nice little planter for the next sowing of my salad.
I’ve now got my eyes on the colander in the kitchen for my next ‘Sow Your Own’ creation, but I think my better half will break my fingers if I try!

Achiltibuie Garden
Dartmoor Chilli Farm
Figo Frames
Freshly Forked
Greenhouse Sensation
Tozer Seeds Direct
love the tyre idea, what did you use to cut it?
Hi Carolyn, glad you liked the idea!
For simple instructions on how to do it, use any of the methods on these three links:-
http://bit.ly/bOR9e5
http://bit.ly/9cgRLO
http://bit.ly/bNcpgR
Easy when you know how
awesome , i love the drawer beds!
i grow a lot of chillies and get a great supply of free 10″ pots from the local suprmarket. they give away the black pots all of their cut flowers scome in if you ask one of the guys on the floor nicely. well worth asking if you need some pots!