Welcome to GOY, Wedgie. You are sure to find lots of good ideas on here!

welcome to GoY from me too.

I use pallets for bedding, just stain them and you would not notice the difference between those that cost £30+. You can always face them with decking to make them look even more expensive.

Use the search function to find pics.

We used old slabs to make a raised bed turned them on thier side.

And left over deck boards for my alpine raised beds.

And the old drum out of my washing machine for my strawberry plants.http://blog.trowelslg.com/2013/02/recycle-washing-machine-drum.html

Hi Wedgie. Welcome to GOY, its good recycling, I'm always doing it, Hubby would throw it away if he had half a chance, we had a Water Butt that sprung a leak at the bottom and he was going to dump it but I got him to cut it into three, used the bottom to wash dirty pea shingle in and let the water out with the tap, the middle I put in the ground and grew my runner beans in and put copper band round the edge to detour snails, top for mixing soil and repotting. And thats only just one item LOL
Hope you get many answers to all your questions, right good lot on here they are. Jackie :o)

Hi wedgie, welcome to goy,its a great site, I have trouble with snails and slugs, so I recycle old copper buckets and coal buckets ,I just put the hosts in large plastic plant pots and stand them in the buckets, great no more holes in my plants,

Oooo! Thats a good idea Taz, my Mum is about to throw a copper pot out, so now she can throw it my way :o)

ladyessex , do what I do, once you have claimed the ones the family don't want, go to the sale rooms or the Internet, you can get them at the price of a good planter,

Thanks all!! Talk about perfect timing then: our washing machine is just about to die- noisily...I like the idea of using the drum for strawberries! I have seen some great use of tyres and latex paint for planters...but I wonder if I'll put off the neighbors: used tyres, recycled pallets, broken drainpipes...heheheh!