We’ve had a little (1ftx3ft) greenhouse in our garden for about five years now – it started off as an actual greenhouse for growing things in but quickly became the cats’ favourite hang-out and the winter home of the local stray cat, so we dropped the growing things pretence and it’s now kitted out with old sofa cushions for the ultimate cat luxury.

It’s a simple – cheap – thing: hollow metal tubes and two shelves, covered by a shaped plastic sheet, with a zipped door flap at the front. The main problem we’ve had is when one cat is in the greenhouse, it’s not uncommon for a second cat to sleep on the roof – and under the heat of the sun/weight of the cat, the roof sags and eventually rips. That’s happened twice now and we’ve repaired it for as long as possible, then ordered new covers off the internetz – still not ideal though.

I’ve looked into buying little glass/solid plastic paned ones but they’re pretty rare compared to large ones and seem really expensive for the size of them. We’ve not got room for a big greenhouse but it would be great to make one that could be used by both the cats and our growing needs.

I know some people make them with old windows and they’ll depend on exactly what type of windows are at hand but anyone got any suggestions/advice? What other types of materials could I use? Does it have to be clear-clear or is reasonably translucent enough? What shape would be best – square? sloped roof? round? polytunnel-ish? biodome?

Last week’s Reverse This question – about how to make a rain chain using recycled materials – has kicked up another question: how to make a water butt/rain barrel using recycled, reclaimed and repurposed stuff.

If you’ve got a rainwater barrel, it means the rain chain doesn’t need to end up in an ugly drain and, of course, it also saves the precious rainwater for use around the garden or in grey water systems.

The specific requirements for the butt depend on what the water is being used for but most I’ve seen tend to be reasonably opaque (to reduce algae growth) and many, particularly commercially produced ones, include a tap or a hinged lid to make it easy to access the water.

Any suggestions? What have you seen being used by creative allotmenteers? Has anyone got any experience of making an old-fashioned barrel like the one in the picture?

We’ve had an email from long time contributor Bobbie:

I’d like to make a rain chain out of recycled material. Something beautiful but functional and long lasting – the Wikipedia article which has some beautiful examples.

I hadn’t heard of rain chains before but they seem like a fab idea: rather than hiding rain water in a boring tube, they make the drain/downspout into a feature – possibly not great for in constantly wet places like the UK but useful in dry climes and also as additional downspouts where a normal plastic one would look horrible.

So then, Bobbie’s query: what recycled stuff can they be made from? My first thought when I saw the cup style ones on Wikipedia was bundt cake and other round/ring cake tins – I quite often see baking things like that at our local furniture-focused charity shop, and it would be perfect for someone who loved baking. Old paint cans, painted pretty colours, might work too.

I imagine steampunk fans could make very cool ones with random scrapped cogs and machine parts – and a little light rust would add to the look.

Any other suggestions?

(Photo from The Fun Times Guide)

We’ve had another email from Maja, saying:

I bought myself an iPod AT LAST. It’s a violet Nano, and I need some decos for it, like a cute sock or a charm.

What can I recycle into some nice iPod stuff?

Playing with Nancy’s necklace idea recently, I made myself a cute charm out by stacking tiny circles of plastic on a piece of thin wire – the circles punched out with a regular hole punch so they were both tiny and even. A few pretty buttons on a length of pretty thread would work in the same way.

As for the sock, you could quickly and easily sew a little pocket using fabric any item of old clothing – I like it when upcycled things include features of the original clothing, like buttons or belt loops from the original item.

I’d also be tempted to crochet, knit or weave some unusual material just to see what happens – the pocket is so small it wouldn’t take long to try out a few different things. Narrow strips of old carrier bags? The shiny insides of crisp packets? The wire from old knackered headphones?

Any other ideas?

We’ve had an email from Maja:

my daughter Tayeliee is in her “think-pink” state – everything around her must be very pink or very cute.

Her room is already stuffed with pink vases, pink lamps, pink chairs etc. but I think there is some trash-treasure that could be nice room deco. I don’t know exactly how to say it… well, is there any way of recycling trash into cute room decos for a 15 yr old?

I think it’ll depend on what she’s into really but when I was that age, I had loads of CDs and remember decorating old shoeboxes with salvaged, scratched-up vinyl records (45s) to make CD storage – I liked the clash of the old and the new.

Other ideas: if she likes candles, you can made trash-candle holders out of old tin cans (punch holes in the side with a hammer and nail to make pretty patterns) or CD cases; repurpose fabric from old pink clothes to make hanging storage pockets and, I don’t know if it’ll match Tayeliee’s version of cute but as I’ve said before, I think these little guys made from old plastic bottles are utterly adorable.

Any other suggestions?

(Photo by thesaint)