I was up at the crack of dawn today to finish trimming branches.

[Paper Roses]

and bag up bushes, tomato plant trimmings, dead plants, all kinds of cuttings I did yesterday early AM. It was too hot to bag the stuff so I did it this AM and waited for the dump to open. Off at 7:30 with my huge bags of junk foliage etc.

Now, I am a yankee and reuse everything I can. It was a real shock to me to see hundreds of reusable paper lawn bags with their Home Depot, Lowe's, Ace Hdwr, etc. logo on them. Does it not occur to people that they dump the contents, fold up the bag for future use? Perhaps some had some content that make future use questionable but I think it is a crime that so many just had grass clippings.

The rest of the story--I came home with several more bags for my own use. They were good as new. A quick peek and dump of the contents and I'm now set for fall.

Sure strange to think of posting this on a humid 98 degree day but...a penny saved etc.

[dgibby]

1. I never cease to be amazed at the stuff I find at the dump.

I came home with 12 french doors, innumerable windows, a pre-formed pond, old chairs, round attic vents, shutters, etc, etc. As a gardner and crafter, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven!

I used the doors and windows in the potting shed, also to build cold frames, used the vents as planters and also placed them around the yard with candles in them, used the shutters to make furniture, planted the old chairs with flowers, etc.

We have a No Scavenging rule at the local dump, but a small tip and a little kindness will go a long way to make your dumpster diving a very rewarding experience. I used to tell the guys there that I wasn't scavenging, I was swapping my junk for their junk!

Those were the good old days. Wish my back was in better shape, I'd go back for more "treasures".

[Denninmi]

2. Maybe I can make you feel better ...

I gather tons of bagged leaves for my gardens every fall and again in the spring (since many people don't do leaf cleanup until spring, and fall seems to come later every year).

I think I gathered close to 1,000 bags in 2009, and probably about 300 this spring.

I save as many of the bags as I can. Fold them up and pack them away. I have tons of them in my garage. I use them for various things -- regular trash, branches I can't process myself that go to the municipal yard waste pickup truck. I have used many of them underneath mulch as temporary landscape fabric, just like using newspaper. I even put a large batch of them through my chipper/shredder once to make shreds for chicken bedding when I ran out of straw.