Reuse, repair, recycle, refuse

or The Apple Rootstock Saga cont.

When I stayed with friends in the Netherlands I was impressed at the system that seemed to operate on the eve of any bin-collecting day, where people put out next to their rubbish bin anything they no longer wanted but that someone else might like. The resulting weekly evening walk round the neighbourhood was not only great for giving old things a longer life, but was also very convivial. And anything not claimed by a neighbour was taken away the following morning by the refuse disposal team. 

I'd love us to have a similar system here but in a way we do - it's just much more disorganised. The best was when my second-floor London flat happened to overlook the estate's permanent skip (dumpster). It was quite entertaining watching items appear in the skip then disappear out of it again: sofas, beds, fridges, toys... It rarely needed to be officially emptied and of course I joined in the scavenging. 

Since then, if I've wanted something I've had to go looking. But it's there. A lot of my shelving originated in skips and I've usually managed to find the size I wanted within a day or two. I've needed a fair bit of wood recently so I've learnt where the current local building sites are and my lockdown walks take me past them each day just to check. 

This morning I woke up gibbering at the cost of pots big enough for my apple rootstock. Then I remembered the huge skip outside the Recovery Centre three minutes' walk from home that I spotted a few days ago. It had no useful wood but quite a stash of plant pots. So, a quick detour from my usual walk and yes, there were several pots (most even containing some good compost), two of which were big enough for my baby trees. But they were way out of reach and obviously heavy. I went into the Recovery Centre and asked whether they'd mind leaving any future pots next to the skip for me to remove then I went home to collect a hook and my own wheelie bin for transport. Even with the hook I had to enlist help to scoop the two large pots out and wheeling them home was a little precarious but... Success! 

I spent this afternoon planting the five dwarfing rootstocks and looking for bigger containers for the five not-so-dwarfing rootstocks I'll plant tomorrow. Two were masquerading as hardcore receptacles in my very own garden and another just needs the snowdrops transplanting. One response to my Freegle request for a damaged water butt will provide the fourth and probably the fifth will make itself known tomorrow.