More on reclaimed materials<\/strong><\/p> The American environmental campaigner Annie Leonard once said, \u201cThere is no such thing as \u2018away\u2019. When we throw anything away it must go somewhere.\u201d This fact challenges us all to pause before buying new for the garden, and consider where our old paving and furniture may end up if they\u2019re thrown on a skip. In a bid to reduce waste and promote sustainability, many leading landscape designers and garden makers are reusing materials. Garden designer Jilayne Rickards<\/a> uses reclaimed materials because they lend a sense of age<\/a>, history and character <\/a>to a garden that can\u2019t be achieved with new items. \u201cThis sustainable approach also reduces a garden\u2019s carbon impact, preventing items going to landfill and polluting the soil and groundwater,\u201d she says.<\/p> Reusing some building materials can also boost wildlife habitats<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing what will grow in crushed cement \u2013 a waste product from the building trade,\u201d says green-roof<\/a> and brownfield<\/a> planting expert John Little.<\/a> \u201cWildflower<\/a> species that support masses of insects thrive in this low-fertility, weed-free chalky material.\u201d<\/p> Designer Steve Williams says the cheapest and easiest products to recycle are often right on your doorstep. \u201cI always carry out an audit of any garden I design to see what can be salvaged. Old concrete<\/a> paving and brick walls can be crushed and used as a sub-base for paving or made into gravel paths<\/a>. I also use them on green roofs, where they provide a great growing medium for native plants.\u201d<\/p> Steve suggests hiring a mini crusher to do it yourself. \u201cA garden designer or landscaper can help with this, but there\u2019s nothing to stop you crushing these materials yourself. Just remember to wear ear defenders, goggles and steel top-capped boots.\u201d<\/p> Alternatively, you can use your waste materials to fill galvanised steel-framed gabions to build walls, raised beds<\/a> and even furniture \u2013 for a smart finish, use stone to line the section facing out and back fill behind this with the waste materials.<\/p> As well as using up your own old hard landscaping, if you spend some time researching you can also find plenty of worthy materials secondhand, such as engineering bricks and other building materials for walls and paving. \u201cI use reclaimed timber for decking and stone for paving<\/a>, walling and steps, topping it off with pots, seating and ornaments I\u2019ve found,\u201d says Jilayne. \u201cJust check wood products, such as old sleepers, haven\u2019t been treated with toxic creosote.\u201d Old decking and wooden items will need to be sanded down and oiled or painted to achieve a weatherproof finish, but can then be laid or installed the same way as new.<\/p> Sometimes it requires thinking outside the box, and looking at how something previously used for one task can be repurposed for another. Alan Williams, landscape and creative designer for Landform Consultants, has transformed heavy-duty timber crane mats into decks. \u201cThese mats are about 3m x 2m, the perfect size for a small seating area, and easy to install,\u201d he says. In the same vein, John Little reclaims whole shipping containers, which he turns into garden rooms with green roofs.<\/p> \u201cConsider making furniture yourself from reclaimed materials,\u201d says Loretta Bosence, director of Local Works Studio, which specialises in innovative reuse for landscapes and buildings. She and her team have worked with designer Sarah Price on several projects, including the Maggie\u2019s cancer care<\/a> centre garden in Southampton, where they turned decommissioned fire hoses into seating using traditional weaving techniques. \u201cWe looked around the site to see what materials were available close by, and the Hampshire fire service HQ was just down the road.\u201d<\/p> Charlotte Molesworth is well-known for recycling and reusing in her garden, Balmoral Cottage in Kent, from an old pig-swill boiler, sinks and sewing machine bases to rubber conveyor belts. Seconds bricks were used for paths and she searches skips and farm auctions for gates and corrugated iron sheets.<\/p> It\u2019s easier to source specific building materials from reclamation yards, and some companies will search and buy in items to order. Specialists such as Reclaimed Brick Company (reclaimedbrickcompany.co.uk<\/a>) and Ashwells Reclaimed Timber (ashwelltimber.com<\/a>) offer a wide choice of quality products, but their services come at a cost and reclaimed materials can be more expensive than new \u2013 cleaning old stone and bricks is a job for professionals. Reclaimed materials may not be perfect, either, so add ten per cent to the quantities needed, for wastage. \u201cIf there\u2019s a hairline crack in a stone paver, it will probably break, but be flexible and perhaps use those bits along an edge where plants will disguise them,\u201d says Alan. Also, check out local recycling centres that take in building waste. They can \u2018grade\u2019 materials by size, selling bigger pieces as aggregates and finer grade ceramic dust, which can be used as a planting medium.<\/p> Architectural salvage companies, such as LASSCO (lassco.co.uk<\/a>), Architectural Heritage (architectural-heritage.co.uk<\/a>) and Winchcombe Reclamation (winchcombereclaim.com), sell antique and reproduction furniture and containers, as well as old garden tools and ephemera if you\u2019re looking for heritage pieces to add a sense of age to your design. Mat Reese, head gardener at Malverleys<\/a>, found the \u2018copper\u2019 at the centre of the Cool Garden water feature at a local auction house. These metal containers are extremely popular in traditional English garden schemes, and are often Victorian-era clothes-washing tubs. \u201cI spotted it, but couldn\u2019t speak with the owners before it went to auction, so had to let it go,\u201d he says. \u201cLuckily, it didn\u2019t sell, so we then made an offer, and got it for a song! I\u2019m told it was originally used in France to make cheese, and is sometimes called a copper fromagerie.\u201d These sorts of prized antiques can be difficult to get hold of, but follow specialist sellers such as Garden and Wood (@gardenandwood<\/a>) on social media to see posts about items like this as soon as they are available.<\/p> Before buying, always factor in the distance goods will need to travel. \u201cLook for suppliers within a 25-mile radius of home. Any further and the carbon emissions from haulage may outweigh any savings you make by using reclaimed,\u201d warns Alan Williams.<\/p> Jilayne Rickards says part of the fun of using reclaimed is snooping around junk yards, antique and charity shops, recycling centres and skips, but she warns that it can be a slow process. \u201cTrawling through online sites such as eBay and freecycling websites is also time consuming, and you may not find exactly what you\u2019re looking for. If I can\u2019t find what I want, I post on social media, which sometimes delivers good results.\u201d <\/p> Read Alice Vincent on why its so hard to buy good, affordable garden furniture<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n Recycling old materials and using reclaimed items in the garden are a given for sustainable gardeners, but making waste look good often requires knowledge and imagination. We explore the creative ways leading designers and gardeners have reused everything from rubble to rubber mats. Words Zia Allaway <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":26339,"template":"","categories":[1,17],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"6"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2023\/09\/how-to-make-recycled-and-reclaimed-materials-look-good-in-your-garden.jpg",2560,1707,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2023\/09\/how-to-make-recycled-and-reclaimed-materials-look-good-in-your-garden-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2023\/09\/how-to-make-recycled-and-reclaimed-materials-look-good-in-your-garden-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2023\/09\/how-to-make-recycled-and-reclaimed-materials-look-good-in-your-garden-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2023\/09\/how-to-make-recycled-and-reclaimed-materials-look-good-in-your-garden-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2023\/09\/how-to-make-recycled-and-reclaimed-materials-look-good-in-your-garden-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2023\/09\/how-to-make-recycled-and-reclaimed-materials-look-good-in-your-garden-2048x1366.jpg",2048,1366,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Recycling old materials and using reclaimed items in the garden are a given for sustainable gardeners, but making waste look good often requires knowledge and imagination. We explore the creative ways leading designers and gardeners have reused everything from rubble to rubber mats. Words Zia Allaway","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/26338"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Tips for using reclaimed materials in gardens<\/h2>
What materials can be reclaimed for your garden?<\/h3>
What materials can be repurposed in the garden?<\/h3>
![\"Summerhouse](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/01\/charlottemolesworthsalvage648-34004b5.jpg\")
Where can I source reclaimed items?<\/h3>
![\"Malverleys\"](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2023\/09\/JI_240417_Malverleys_035_preview-scaled.jpg?fit=1024,1024\")
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