Take the time to pause, plan and be creative

I was very excited when we decided to put together our ‘Re’ issue (Early Autumn 2026) because it meant we could all share ideas for being creative in our gardens and homes, from recycling grey water to using reusing old bathtubs. My husband, Ger, and I particularly enjoy being creative with reclaimed ‘rubbish’ we discover on our travels to the local tip and beyond!

It’s taken about six years to create what we now enjoy on our north-facing, ¼ acre block in the outer north-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, but I reckon we’re pretty close to having our dream garden.

Built and planted from the ground up, our garden was finished at the end of 2019. Well timed to spend the many COVID lockdown days pottering around! But the quieter time at home also made us realise our new garden needed a bit more character. To add this, with charm and a touch of whimsy, we started hunting through our local tip shop, op-shops and online secondhand marketplaces. And so the ongoing design of our growing space began.

How to be creative in your garden

Often we’d not really know what we wanted until we spotted something we liked the look of and then paused to ‘think outside the box’: how could it be used in the garden space?

For example, we fell in love with an old wrought-iron bed frame we found at the tip shop for $50. Although we couldn’t use the bed as a whole in the garden, the foot of it was the right size to make a gate at the bottom of our garden, while the head could become the back to a gabion wall seat at the top of our garden.

Upcycled or recycled pieces in your garden can become great talking points with stories to tell. Most people don’t even clock that the cute white gate is part of a bed, but those who do will often ask: “Is that a bedhead?” No I say, it’s the foot of a bed and the head is at the top of the garden.

We have used a variety of recycled items including:

• Reclaimed apple crates have been turned into wicking beds to grow vegies.
• Old flyscreen doors (painted black) support creepers along our fenceline.
• Rubble from a neighbour’s renovation fill the back of our gabion cages, with nice rocks we purchased along the facing side you see.
• A cast iron clawfoot bath placed perfectly for a soak with a view. My tip here is to check for lead paint on any old baths before sanding. Restore and re-enamel the inside carefully and with correct PPE if lead paint is found.

We would love to see what you’ve rescued and recycled for your garden. Tag @yourhandle and use #YourGardenWithOG and show us what you are creating!

Chloe has shared more of her garden treasures in the Early Autumn 2026 issue: just look for cover featuring Annemarie Bolduc’s garden in the Snowy region of New South Wales – keep an eye out for one of her gorgeous chooks! You’ll find it in newsagents and selected supermarkets, or you can subscribe here to get an issue delivered to your door!