I know it's harder to get the bargains these days but is anyone still finding and making use of freebies for the lawn and garden?

Where you have made some fantastic finds lately?

There's a Colorado Department of Transportation depot near me, where CDOT tests cement samples. The samples are in cylinders about 8 inches in diameter and about 15 inches long.  When I bought my house, I needed edging for some garden areas and couldn't afford to buy it - CDOT puts the used cores outside the fence of the depot to prevent erosion, and after a while the build up the fence several feet above the level of the grass.  People take them and use them for all sorts of things - I took several trips, acquired about 60, painted them with cement sealer, and buried them on their sides as edging.  I've since replaced them with bricks a friend of mine was giving away when she and her husband took down a retaining wall behind their house, but the cylinders were reused to hold down plastic under gravel on the north side of my house where nothing grows but weeds.

In my area, a lot of people give away landscaping materials when they update their own landscaping - generally hardscape items such as bricks and rocks, sometimes fill dirt - for anyone who will come and take them away.  Watch classified ads, freecycle-type organizations, and online market postings - just be careful when you go to other peoples' homes if you don't know them, as with anything you get from these types of sources.

When we first moved here I called some landscaping companies and asked to speak to a manager. They usually put me through to the owner as it is a rural area. I'd ask how they dispose of old landscaping materials like borders and if there was any way I could come relieve them of some of the materials. Nobody ever said no. I only called two and got what I needed for free, we just had to load it in the truck ourselves, and pick through it ourselves. I think in an urban area people may be concerned about a potential liability, someone falling or getting injured, but I guess it didn't occur to them or they didnt care.

We got some free landscape timbers, some edging material that we had to clean up and some red lava rock mulch that was scattered everywhere and we had to gather it, brush it clean etc.

If they had told me no I would have posted signs on the bulletin boards at the local grocery stores stating what I was looking for and would haul that off free for them if they were re-landscaping.

I have, many years ago, also talked to people at nurseries to find out what they do with plants they feel are past their prime, no longer saleable, and got some crepe myrtles for free that came "back to life" with some miracle gro.

Brandy:

Where you have made some fantastic finds lately?

Last week I picked up 22 of the "cobblestone" look edgers for free on freecycle.  I thought they sounded similar to some I have in a bed on the north side of my house, but when I picked them up, the design actually matched.  The new ones are deeper than the old - the new ones are the overlapping kind & the old ones weren't - but since we are enlarging that barked bed this year, it was really nice to get those for free, & the exact amount I needed.  Quite a blessing.

zohnerfarms:

Last week I picked up 22 of the "cobblestone" look edgers for free on freecycle

Very nice find!

Our freecycle here is amazing. 

Someone offered a red bud tree, 2 English walnut trees, & a forsythia, but they went so fast I didn't get any of them. People list it on freecycle with the note that you must bring pot & shovel & dig it out yourself. They buy a house & want to change the landscaping, so they just list anything they don't want.

My Mom found a company that specializes in demo for residental properties thru Craigslist.  They repurpose and resell items that they pull from their demo sites, and it ranges quite a bit in what the offer.  They almost always have indoor and outdoor items.  Gates, fencing, garden statues, pavers/bricks and other outdoor items have been listed on their site. 

 Maybe try reseraching or Googling residential/commercial demolition/renovation companies in your area and see if they have websites.  You could then see if they have monthly sales or if they maintain a warehouse that you could go check out.

mommatothree:

Maybe try reseraching or Googling residential/commercial demolition/renovation companies in your area and see if they have websites.  You could then see if they have monthly sales or if they maintain a warehouse that you could go check out.

That's a good suggestion.

This morning someone posted free cinder block in the "free" section of the online classifieds.  When I called, he had taken down a 12' x 5' high wall, because the mortar was crumbling & he was afraid it would fall.  I am picking them up started at 5:30 pm tonight, when he gets home, because that is what is convenient for him.  He lives 2 towns over, so it will cost me around $2 a trip in gas to go get them, but I couldn't even buy 2 of them at the store for that, & I can haul 10-12 at a time. I will make however many trips I need to bring them home.

I cleared space in the barked area by the garden to store them temporarily.  I am feeling very blessed right now.

zohnerfarms:

I will make however many trips I need to bring them home.

I was able to fit 14 in the car for each trip, & made 4 trips today.  I have 56 cinder blocks stacked in mini towers of 8.  He said I could come back tomorrow morning to get the rest of them - another 20-something - so I will have 70-80 by the end of tomorrow.  Free is such an affordable price!