Spare guttering idea

Looks pretty planted up... Did you have any problems with heavy rain falling onto the planter from the shed roof ?

Fantastic, I'll pinch your idea, though I may add some gell to help with watering.

That is a good idea,may try it myself.I can see the problem about the run off from the shed though,but I'm lucky enough to have guttering from mine into water
butt,so should be ok..Did you put any drainage holes in or not?It looks brilliant Richard,thanks for that..:o))

great idea

Looks great was thinking same as TT about the rain coming of the shed roof.

its a great idea richard, and looks great, we have some guttering but not sure where it is and where to put it lol, will ask baz :o))

That looks really cool and so pretty. A great idea, wished I had a shed now!

A lot of money to spend to have a bit of Guttering though,Great Lol. :o))
I suppose it could be fixed to a wooden fence too.on a horizontal spar....

very inventive richard you could be onto something

Thanks all for your lovely comments. I didn't buy the guttering especially it was some that I had spare and was thinking what to do with it. I did drill drainage holes in the guttering as this prevented the plants from flooding in heavy rain. The end stops prevented the compost from washing out of the gutter ends. You could place the guttering on a fence or under a window and grow alternative things in there such as eg herbs, lettuce, trailing lobelia.....

Great idea, Richard, with using that spare guttering! The Marigolds you put in it last year really look great! Lobelias would be a good choice as would Busy Lizzies. The modern strains of Busy Lizzy are a real joy to grow & the seeds will spring up all over the place!

The "Pick-&-Come-again" varieties of lettuce would be ideal in such a situation. What about a few strawberry plants? They'd be safe from the little "critters" that like to chomp on them as well!

Balcony does your lettuce !come again"? mine doesn't seem to!!

Bloomer
I love your sense of humour!! I also love the fuchsias on your page beautiful. My daughter hoed one of my fuchias down last week, I wasen't a happy bunny, she said it wasen't there, well its not now I told her!. Every year I seem to buy them, fuchias not daughters lol; I can't resist them. Maybe I could put trailing fuchias in the guttering on my invisiable shed ha ha . Guttering on the fence Mmmmmm
now that's a thought mmmmm

Thanks Balcony. I often grow salad leaves and they are cut and come again. I treat all my lettuce the same I just go around and take a few leaves off each and leave the rest in the ground to grow no matter what the type is!
Trailing fuchsias would be good Great, or trailing lobelia

Great, there are varieties of lettuce that only form loose leaves. You pick a few leaves from several plants & leave the plant to grow & produce more leaves for another day. These plants don't make a heart & can continue to produce leaves for picking all summer.

Great news.I was showing Russell what you did with your guttering,and he still has some left over from doing the shed.Thinks its a good idea too,and as we speak,is looking in the Wickes book for end stops and brackets.He is on Holiday for a week now,so says it will be something to do.
.Ours is going on the fence,opposite back door.and now planning what I will grow in it.Some of the suggestions on here,,probably,especially the cut and come again lettuces,which are already starting to grow in Conservatory..Many thanks for your blog and pics on this. a great idea,Richard :o))

Thanks for your comments Balcony-the salad leaf type lettuce is so useful.
You could get some wooden brackets and end stops made to save you from buying anything special Bloomer. I had mine spare otherwise I would have made some myself :-)-Thanks I am glad you found the blog useful! :-)

Great idea Richard. May try this along the top of the balisrade on the decking.......

The seeds are all planted up as well so watch this space!

Sounds good Dan I hope you have some luck with them. :-)

You have great ideas Richard well done . good luck with the sweet peas and remember to keep picking them to keep them flowering, we call them friendship flowers.

Thanks Scotsgran I am glad you liked the idea. I will remember to keep picking the sweet peas when they flower. Thanks for reminding me I had forgotten all about that!

Richard,already bought some today..2 end stops,2 brackets. £4.96p at Wickes.Already had 1 bracket,so not a bad price for a new planter!:o)),but thanks for your suggestion...

That's great Bloomer -I am glad to be of use. Perhaps you could show us all a picture of your new planter when it is finished if you are able to.
Thanks for your comment Viv1-somehow your post appeared after I wrote my comment :-)

I will ,Richard.I have been watching Gardeners world,and he has just been sowing pea seeds in guttering ! He must have been reading your blog Lol..

Yes Bloomer may be he has :-)

Balcony thanks for explaining about the lettuce, may be I sowed the wrong type! lol

I find growing seeds very satisfying but do take short cuts sometimes. The punnets of living salad sold in Lidl are very good for transplanting in to a bigger pot (like the guttering) individually. I first did this in 2008 and had enough cut and come again to last till October. I have just bought my pack and as it is dry will go out and plant up today.

Thanks for the idea Scotsgran I have a box of salad that has survived over the winter after I had put a sheet of bubblewrap on top of it :-)
Hi Great - I only remove the leaves what I want on all my varieties of lettuce that are growing :-)

Glad to be of help, Great. Hope you get a good crop of lettuce this year.

Thanks Balcony. I am making my own coleslaw today to go with a salad :-)

what a great idea xxx

so effective :-)

Richard,my guttering is up and running,with mixed salad leaves planted and doing ok.Will post a pic later.I have also topped it with small gravel,in case heavy rain washed it out,and so glad I did,as yesterday afternoon,we had a torrential downpour,I went out to check afterwards,and Yippee.,all intact.If it forecasts cold nights,I have an assortment of plastic pop bottles ,cut in half, plastic trays which you buy the pre packed flat mushrooms in,and are just made to measure,for guttering...how considerate of the makers,to think of me Lol.It looks a B........,but works..:o))Think it would look more pleasing to the eye with the bubble wrap,though,but no one else can see it,only me.....

Thank you Kimmy glad you like it :-)
You seem to have a lot of thrifty ideas too Bloomer. I find a great thrill in thinking up new recycling ideas too. Looking forward to seeing your pics later :-)