One Trug, Ten Uses

One of the most useful things we can do as kitchen gardeners is to recycle everything. Nothing need go to waste, everything can be returned back to nature, and this is the mantra that drives all of my activities in my own walled kitchen garden.

Over two million acres of Great Britain comprise of private gardens, so as curators of such a huge natural space we have a great responsibility to ensure we recycle and reuse everything within our plot, however small. It can make a huge overall impact on nature, wildlife habitats, bio diversity and sustainability.

With that in mind, I have the perfect implement that helps me achieve my aim. This is a rubber trug, that is hand made and hand sewn from recycled tyres.

It has two handles for carrying, it is quite light but incredibly tough and strong. Unlike other plastic trugs, it does not crack and split if left out in the rain. It is sold by Hen and Hammock, at www.henandhammock.com, which is a British garden mail order company specialising in selling sustainable and eco-friendly products. It offers good value for money and trustworthy provenance. It also delivers straight to your door, saving you travel.

This trug can help your work in umpteen ways, but here are just ten:

1. To carry potatoes, leeks, onions or parsnips from the allotment or kitchen garden.

2. To carry weeds and dead leaves to the compost bins while you are raking, hoeing and digging.

3. To carry cut flowers for use indoors, and to carry them out again when they are dead and ready for the compost heap.

4. To carry old newspapers, bottles, tins and plastic to the recycling bins in town.

5. To carry dried logs. Then you can also use it to put cold, used ashes from the fireplace directly onto the vegetable garden.

6. To carry laundry to and from the washing machine or to the ironing board, to hang out in the sun or in the boiler room. Tumble driers are very wasteful of energy.

7. To chill wine at alfresco parties, filled with ice and water, which can then be used to water plants in terracotta pots.

8. To go foraging, collecting mushrooms, or wild garlic, nettles and elderflowers.

9. To cart around all your hand tools, secateurs, garden gloves and seed packets as you go round the garden. If you don’t lose anything, you won’t need to buy anything new.

10. To wash vegetables you have just picked, by filling with water from the rain butt. Then pour the muddy water back into the garden.

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