Grow Your Own Magazine

Two_Sheds · #1 (**permalink**) 21-02-2007, 05:16 PM

I've started edging my beds with upturned wine bottles. It looks nice (!) and hopefully the glass will heat up in the sun and warm the beds....?

Birdie Wife · #2 (**permalink**) 21-02-2007, 06:10 PM

Great idea for recycling! Do you have A LOT of empty wine bottles then?!

serenity · #3 (**permalink**) 21-02-2007, 06:16 PM

NICE idea two sheds, I guess it must have taken you ages to save up all those empties?

Mrs Dobby · #4 (**permalink**) 21-02-2007, 06:55 PM

Love the idea, but cant help wondering if it could be dangerous to do on the plot, especially if you're digging in those beds every year? Anyone any ideas?

rustylady · #5 (**permalink**) 21-02-2007, 08:12 PM

Wine bottles are surprisingly tough, unless you are carrying one home from the offie and manage to drop it.
A cottage near where I used to live was a lot higher than the road level and they'd arranged their garden in separate levels, separated by low walls, instead of leaving it as a steep slope. The lowest level (nearest the road) was edged with wine bottles laid on their sides (bottoms facing out) to a height of two or three feet, and had been there quite some time. I don't know whether they had drunk all the wine themselves or had begged empty bottles from neighbours etc.

Two_Sheds · #6 (**permalink**) 21-02-2007, 10:18 PM

I don't dig my beds, so no chance of breaking the bottles. I have got the teachers at my local school saving their wine bottles for me...I'm averaging 12 botttles a day!

Benacre · #7 (**permalink**) 21-02-2007, 11:01 PM

Must be the stress. I saw this idea at Chelsea last year but as a teetotaller I have no bottles for my beds

vicki lorraine · #8 (**permalink**) 21-02-2007, 11:43 PM

Why is it that teachers are so keen on wine?
Lovely effect though. Have got rid of all our bottles at the recycling plant.
How many bottles for a small bed? Still quite a few i imagine. Ive counted 10 on the lower bed in picture but that is only a corner. How big is this bed?

Earthbabe · #9 (**permalink**) 22-02-2007, 08:55 AM

Looks like a great idea TwoSheds. Well done.

madderbat · #10 (**permalink**) 22-02-2007, 10:58 AM

It does look good, but I have a morbid fear of broken glass - had two injuries from it in the past. Besides I use most of our bottles for the home brew, so perhaps will pass on this one.

Two_Sheds · #11 (**permalink**) 22-02-2007, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by madderbat

I have a morbid fear of broken glass -

The bottles are surprisingly strong: the exposed end is the strongest part of the bottle. I've clipped them with spades and so on, never broken one yet.

You do need a lot of bottles to edge a bed - 4 bottle to a foot, but I do it gradually. There's no rush, its gardening!

wellie · #12 (**permalink**) 24-02-2007, 10:12 PM

Like your style Two Sheds...... VERY creative ! Saving my empties for Pigletwillie to store his SuiCider in.

eskymo · #13 (**permalink**) 25-02-2007, 07:47 PM

We recently went to La Gomera on holiday for some winter sun and the owners of the cottage we were staying at had done the same thing on their veg plot and I thought it was a great idea - too late to incorporate into my current garden/plot but I think I wil definitely do this in my next garden if/when we move.

Hazel at the Hill · #14 (**permalink**) 25-02-2007, 07:52 PM

Talking of La Gomera, does anyone know if you can grow those scrumy canarian potatoes that they serve there? What sort are they? Really waxy and they boil them in their skins then serve with life threatening amounts of salt.

manicorganic · #15 (**permalink**) 20-03-2007, 03:22 AM

Pop Bottle Edging
It’s amazing how many empty 2-liter pop bottles go in the recycling bin each week. Here’s a good use for them: edge a flower bed. Start by saving the bottles; you’ll need about 3 bottles for each foot of edging. Remove the labels and rings, but save the tops. Select the spot where you want your edging--around a tree is nice, or find an area where you’d like to create a raised bed. Use a shovel to dig a ditch as wide as a bottle and about 4 inches deep. As you’re shoveling, place the dirt inside the flower bed. When you’re done digging, place the bottles in the ditch, one right next to each other, standing up. Use some of the dug up soil to fill in the gaps around the bottles and pat the soil flat. Fill the bottles with water and put the caps back on. (For extra color, you can add food coloring to each bottle!) Fill your new flower bed with potting soil and get planting!

bubblewrap · #16 (**permalink**) 20-03-2007, 06:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Two_Sheds

I've started edging my beds with upturned wine bottles. It looks nice (!) and hopefully the glass will heat up in the sun and warm the beds....?

I would sooner fill the bottles with Madderbats blackberry or parsnip wine.

madderbat · #17 (**permalink**) 20-03-2007, 07:06 PM

The pop bottle idea sounds wonderful (even if eventually biodegradable). Might try that Manic Organic (do you mind if we call you MO?), around our new apple tree. Love the idea of food colouring too.

dexterdoglancashire · #18 (**permalink**) 20-03-2007, 08:45 PM

What a novel idea 2sheds! The amount of wine and cider we drink in "Dexters Den" we could soon have your idea up and running!

Bernie aka Dexterdog

WiZeR · #19 (**permalink**) 30-03-2007, 11:14 AM

I was inspired by this and have started it for my Rhubarb bed. Ran out of bottles tho:

Thanks Two_Sheds!

Two_Sheds · #20 (**permalink**) 04-04-2007, 08:12 PM

Well you need to get drinking then! I have got all my teachers, friends and family saving them for me. I have been known to hang out at bottle banks, begging for empties

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