Mar & Mark as Volunteers

Piles of junk? or Garden of Possibilities?

In a post a while ago, we wrote about the fact that many wonderful items are discarded by the roadside.   Many items are still functioning, and still more may be upcycled, or recycled, to continue their usefulness in a different guise!   This is certainly what happened to a fridge that we “rescued” from the last verge collection.  We were first given the idea of using old fridges as raised garden beds at a Sustainable Living initiative that we attended at a wonderful place called Earthwise.  In addition to learning about such things as composting (our compost is now doing great!), worm farms and propagation (ie: growing plants from cuttings, etc…), we also talked about establishing raised garden beds.  So knowing that we could use an old fridge for this purpose, we kept our eyes peeled for a suitable candidate.

Sure enough, one was found!  Our car is just a little one, so it was a bit of a challenge getting it home…..  Fortunately, it was only a few blocks away from the house, so we didn’t cause any major accidents on the freeway!

Future Garden Bed

Once home, Mark had the task of removing the motor from the back, as well as poking some holes into what would become the “bottom” of our garden bed, to ensure that enough water drainage would occur.   One of the “rules” of leaving fridges for the verge pick up, is that the doors have to be removed (a safety issue, to ensure children playing in them don’t inadvertently lock themselves in!).    So this bit of the process was already done for us.

With the nitty gritty out of the way, it was time to start planting!   We found a suitable site in our small back yard; one just beneath our kumquat tree, so there would be enough shade to grow some herbs.  The harsh Australian summers can be really tough on plants!  So we wanted to make sure we gave our a fighting chance!

The planting began.   We decided to start with seedlings (small plants), rather than try and grow from seeds, as we are just beginner gardeners.  As we get better, and more knowledgeable, I’m sure we’ll try seed things, too!

Success!

Some of the items we planted in our fridge / garden bed included basil, rocket, red lettuce and coriander!   We were thrilled with the results.   It has been great to pick regularly from our little garden!   Fresh salads taste so much better when the greens are coming from our own hard efforts!  (well, mostly the efforts of Mother Nature!)    The basil was quite prolific, so we have it on everything at the moment, in addition to lots and lots of yummy pesto!

We were pretty pleased with ourselves, so we just wanted to share with you the extra life that one humble refrigerator has been given!   We’re already starting to give some thought to what we will plant in our fridge for winter!