Central Virginia Organic Gardener

"And 'tis my faith that every flower enjoys the air it breathes." - William Wordsworth, 1798

Saturday, April 3, 2021

Repurposing

I am a big fan of the philosophy "Use it up, Wear it out, Make it do, or Do without" especially the idea inherent in this, repurposing.  I try to follow this in my home and in my garden. I have used silver packaging plastic cut in strips and tied to a pole  to scare birds, plastic lids as plant saucers, that kind of thing. My latest creation is pictured above.  While pruning my figs last winter, I saved some tall and straight branches to use in the garden as stakes.  But the rest requires a back story.

In my 20's, I was a bad abstract artist, and several of my paintings made it through various moves to our current home.  I was doing a big purge just before the pandemic, and saw these terrible paintings. I put then in the shed to break them down and toss them out. I recently stripped off the canvas and pulled out the staples.  "Huh" I thought "What can I do with these old canvas stretchers?" I teamed them up with the fig branch poles, some string I has saved, and some zip ties...and voila!  Pea trellises! And I think they are fun!

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