(I suspect they’ll be an overlap between this and our previous question about making greenhouses but I thought I’d ask again because they’re a bit different.)

I’m having lots of fun growing stuff in our new garden. The old garden was considerably small and got no (no!) direct sunlight whatsoever, which made growing things a little difficult. Here we get a lot more sun – in different spots throughout the day – and that’s actually been a bit of a problem this summer – my current nursery area (the porch) has been getting a bit too hot for some types of seedlings. Next year, I’d like more nursery space generally too so I thought a cold frame would make sense.

Cold frames are one of those great DIY projects with more people probably building their own out of scrap than buying them new. But I’ve got a bit of builders’ block – unable to think what to use. I’ve got my eye out for old windows or the like, and I nearly yoinked my best friend’s old shower cubicle but it was way too big and would have been problematic to cut down – but aside from that, I can’t think what else I might use for the clear parts. Any suggestions?

As for the frame, my dad built his latest coldframe using the frame of my old childhood bed (a divan, so a ready-made frame), which made me start thinking about other ready-made frames to make it easier for my weak woodworking skillz: we’ve got an old table that could be flipped upside down to provide a solid base and uprights – attaching stuff to them would probably be a lot easier than starting from scratch.

Another idea might be to build a brick frame – we’ve got some salvaged bricks around the places – but I wouldn’t know how to hinge a lid to that. Hinging a lid isn’t vital, just useful though…

Any other suggestions? Any pros/cons to brick or wood frames? What have you done?

The Guardian’s Leo Hickman wrote an article yesterday about 3D glasses – how the current trend for jumping-out-at-you big screen action is causing a lot of waste: even with reusing and reconditioning schemes in place, around 7million pairs will be recycled into “plastic pellets” this year – and that’s not including the ones people have taken home.

We’ve only seen a few things in 3D – at the IMAX in Bradford – and we’ve always left the glasses there afterwards. But if we had taken them home (and if there wasn’t anywhere obvious for recycling, that’s what we’d have done), how could we have reused them?

The ones we’ve worn have been stylistic wonders – quirky-shaped plastic frames, which look particularly great over my normal specs…

• Craftzine linked to Christopher Paul’s painted plates – giving chintzy old plates a new lease of life (presumably just as artwork but still). A very fun idea!
• The Greenists ran a tutorial by Mudnessa on turning wide leg jeans into skinny ones – perfect if you fancy a change.
• Alison pointed us in the direction of this news story about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill – how hairdressers and transvestites are recycling stuff together to help soak up the oil
• Leo sent us an email to alert us to the RSPB’s second-hand binocular collection scheme – if you’ve got any old binoculars, telescopes or tripods lying around your house, you can donate them to the RSPB and they’ll use them in a conservation or educational project.
• And Joris sent us an email about Gumdropbins – fun bins to collect chewing gum – which are made from old chewing gum.
• It should be a bit late in the year for this type of thing but since the heating’s off & I’m thinking summery thoughts, the nights can still get pretty chilly – and that’s when hot water bottles with super snuggy recycled covers are just perfect.
• Finally, Alex from Just Cook It has been blogging about cooking with nettles recently – and the recipes sound fantastic. A great way to “reuse” those weeds from the garden!

Over on the Suggestion page, Jill asked:

How can you recycle old, unused, unwanted incense sticks?

I was cleaning and found an old box of them. I hear you can still burn them, but I’m not into smelly stuff any more and I hear certain kinds may have toxic ingredients (which is why I don’t want to try composting them).

Short of giving them to someone else, do you have any ideas?

I think a lot of people will be in the same position as Jill – nearly full boxes of them tucked at the back of cupboards after they’ve decided they don’t like the smell or don’t want to use them any more.

I’m pretty sure I’ve seen some good reuses for them in the past but searching now, I can only find suggestions for things to reuse as incense stick holders – so I’m going to have to defer to the wonderful Recycle This community — any ideas?

(Photo by LittleMan)

We’ve got more patio than decent bed space in our garden at the moment so we’re going for lots of pots this year while we get the beds properly sorted out.

I thought it might be nice to have some herbs in hanging baskets and/or (semi-circular) wall planters too – but then saw the price of the wall planters — cor lumme, kerching! kerching! There are some cheaper rattan ones (which fall apart after a couple of years) and some formed plastic ones (ugh) but aside from those, decent sized ones are bordering on cost-prohibitive when buying more than one or two. (Am I looking in the wrong places? I’ve looked everywhere from cheap hardware chain to garden centres – wire frame hanging baskets are pretty cheap but I can’t find the comparative ones for wall planters, even though I’m sure I’ve seen them in the past.)

Anyway, I’m on the look out for people getting rid of old ones locally but as usual, I wondered how I could go about making some of my own out of scrap wire, wood, metal or other “waste” items (or adapt existing tubs/containers, such as plastic food buckets or clay/terracotta plant pots).

Anyone given it a go in previous years? Any hints/tips? Would it be easier to make plant pot holders/shelves than wall planters? Any ideas or suggestions would be great!