Are you a garden scavenger?

[ACSAPA]

I love free stuff and I hate waste. I've found a total of 7 filing cabinets over the years because there's an office building less than a mile from my place where businesses are always opening and then going out of business. I kept 2 tall filing cabinets and 2 short filing cabinets and then gave the other 3 filing cabinets to my neighbor.

The universe is funny sometimes because I recently threw out my black leather office chair because it had too many rips and it looked horrible. A day or two after I threw it out, a neighbor got rid of a similar leather office chair that showed minimal wear and still had new leather smell. It was wasteful of them to toss it out, but I was so happy to replace my desk chair.

As far as garden scavenging, I've gotten a large plant pot like the ones you see outside of businesses, 2 medium white plants pots that were a little dirty, and 6 terra cotta plant pots with saucers. I also found a discarded pothos plant but I only kept it alive for a year before it died.

 

[ChanellG]

I love free stuff and I hate waste...

As far as garden scavenging, I've gotten a large plant pot like the ones you see outside of businesses, 2 medium white plants pots that were a little dirty, and 6 terra cotta plant pots with saucers. I also found a discarded pothos plant but I only kept it alive for a year before it died.

Too bad about the pothos; a year is still a pretty long time with a plant that probably had issues when you found it. I would love to get some of those really large pots, but then I'd also need really some large bags of dirt, lol. For now I am busy enough looking after caterpillars.

 

[Philphine]

not so much free side of the road stuff, but i hit the flea markets and thrift stores pretty regularly. the last garden related thing i got was a 50gal rain barrel that looks like a big urn or pot.

as far as free, usually it's checking the throwaway box in the maintenance shop at work. again, as far as garden related, i think the last thing i got was the fan covers from some industrial motors i was gonna use for a pond project, but i changed my mind so now i just have them. i may try them later as flowerpots.

 

[limcid]

A good tip is to determine which days are trash collection day for the better neighborhoods in town, and just drive around before the trash truck shows up. A Refuse Engineer once told me that people will put out some of the most amazing things, especially in higher-end parts of town. He mentioned that a man had purchased a really expensive sofa (~$2,000) but didn't like it after he had it in the house so he just put it out on the curb, still inside the original plastic. The guy said he helped the man put it on the side of the house until he could come back and pick it up after work.

 

[ChanellG]

A good tip is to determine which days are trash collection day for the better neighborhoods in town, and just drive around before the trash truck shows up. A Refuse Engineer once told me that people will put out some of the most amazing things, especially in higher-end parts of town. He mentioned that a man had purchased a really expensive sofa (~$2,000) but didn't like it after he had it in the house so he just put it out on the curb, still inside the original plastic. The guy said he helped the man put it on the side of the house until he could come back and pick it up after work.

It never ceases to amaze me the things people continue to sit at the curb even with all the talk of communities having to pay to ship their trash other places due to lack of landfill space, not to mention all the stuff that is not biodegradable. However, a sofa, let alone one that is brand new, is not garbage. What is wrong with people?

 

[claudine]

I'm not a garden scavenger. I believe that you can find many useful things this way, but I'm too scared of germs, I have a cleaning disorder, and I wouldn't take anything that somebody else threw away. Also, in my country people usually don't leave anything on the streets, so even if I tried, I probably wouldn't find anything.

 

[Gina145]

It never ceases to amaze me the things people continue to sit at the curb even with all the talk of communities having to pay to ship their trash other places due to lack of landfill space, not to mention all the stuff that is not biodegradable. However, a sofa, let alone one that is brand new, is not garbage. What is wrong with people?

What's wrong is that there's no balance in the world. Some people have got too much and others have too little. Instead of wasting money on a sofa he didn't want, that man could have done a lot to help the needy with that money.

 

[TheCrazyPlantLady]

Well, I had a big disappointment this morning! My husband and I were heading out shopping when we passed a garage sale in progress, and there was an old wooden ladder. I've been wanting to find one to turn into a plant stand, but I have had no luck in finding one. So I talked my husband into turning back to investigate, but the wooden ladder wasn't for sale, it was just helping prop up a clothes hanger.

One day! One day I will find that ladder!

 

[TheCrazyPlantLady]

I think a lot of people put things out with their trash because they hope someone will repurpose it. You are far more likely to find a home for an unwanted item by putting it at the curb than by advertising it on kijiji, and a lot less likely to get some creepy person coming by!

 

[ACSAPA]

It never ceases to amaze me the things people continue to sit at the curb even with all the talk of communities having to pay to ship their trash other places due to lack of landfill space, not to mention all the stuff that is not biodegradable. However, a sofa, let alone one that is brand new, is not garbage. What is wrong with people?

Some people just have too much money and they're too lazy to return or donate things. The leather office chair my neighbor threw out was in great shape but I guess he couldn't be bothered to put it in his car and drive it to Goodwill. Maybe it didn't fit in his car. Office chairs are usually not assembled when you buy them so maybe it fit in his car when he bought it, but not when he was ready to get rid of it. I threw my old office chair out a week or two before finding the new one, so it does kind of seem like the universe gifts things sometimes.

 

[ChanellG]

I think a lot of people put things out with their trash because they hope someone will repurpose it. You are far more likely to find a home for an unwanted item by putting it at the curb than by advertising it on kijiji, and a lot less likely to get some creepy person coming by!

I think people who put things out when it isn't trash day and people who put a sign on the item(s) that says something like "Free, please take" fall into that category. Those people generally live in communities where most people recycle, etc. There are too many people though that just don't give a darn or can't be bothered.

I guess he couldn't be bothered to put it in his car and drive it to Goodwill. Maybe it didn't fit in his car.

I don't know about where you live, but a lot of thrift stores here pick things up. Chances are if you have one thing to get rid of you have five or more things as well. It's not that hard to donate the stuff. I later found out those flower pots had been listed on Craig's List for curbside pickup.

 

[RomanAnthonysMama]

I think it's great that you're making use of things that others may have just thrown out or found no use of! It must save so much money, and it just shows how much you care about your garden. I haven't really done that much scavenging, but I think maybe I'll try! I bet I'd find a lot of unused materials in my uncle's garden since he has a lot of tomato cages and things of that nature.

 

[ChanellG]

I haven't really done that much scavenging, but I think maybe I'll try! I bet I'd find a lot of unused materials in my uncle's garden since he has a lot of tomato cages and things of that nature.

Your uncle just may have some things he isn't using or no longer needs that you can utilize for your own garden. I can't say that I deliberately scavenge, I just happened to be walking past those tomato cages that day, and people often offer me things since they know I can likely find a reuse for them.

 

[Shellyann36]

not so much free side of the road stuff, but i hit the flea markets and thrift stores pretty regularly. the last garden related thing i got was a 50gal rain barrel that looks like a big urn or pot.

as far as free, usually it's checking the throwaway box in the maintenance shop at work. again, as far as garden related, i think the last thing i got was the fan covers from some industrial motors i was gonna use for a pond project, but i changed my mind so now i just have them. i may try them later as flowerpots.

Great score with that rain barrel!

A good tip is to determine which days are trash collection day for the better neighborhoods in town, and just drive around before the trash truck shows up. A Refuse Engineer once told me that people will put out some of the most amazing things, especially in higher-end parts of town. He mentioned that a man had purchased a really expensive sofa (~$2,000) but didn't like it after he had it in the house so he just put it out on the curb, still inside the original plastic. The guy said he helped the man put it on the side of the house until he could come back and pick it up after work.

Yes in larger cities and communities it is a good way to find great stuff. One of my ex-bf's worked in a fairly large city for the phone company. He would come home and tell me about all of the stuff people put out beside the curb on trash day. I wish I could have gone and gotten 1/2 of it.

 

[ChanellG]

My latest find is a foldable book shelf! (One of the things I need most in the world) Mom and I were headed to the farmer's market a few days ago and there it was sitting on the street, There was also a nice basket sitting on top that I am not using to hold my garden tools. The funny thing here is these things (pots, cages, and shelf)were all found on the same street within two blocks of each other!

This is an open one. The one I picked up had been painted white. The person had painted over the hinges so it was a bit of a challenge to get it to fold up again, but it was free!