Monday, August 1, 2011

Barbecue to seedling table


While on a visit at Melanie's brothers I noticed an old disused barbecue frame. And in one of those moments when clouds part and a beam of light shines down accompanied by the voices of angles, I knew what I was destined to do. So I brought it home, with his permission, and combined it with the broken umbrella frame, left over from the chook dome, to make a seedling table.


I cut the two central bars and raised them to fill the gap in the table top. I fastened them in place using a metal bracket that I got from the hardware store.


The umbrella frame I cut into pieces and nailed them to the bars to make  the slats. A tip when nailing hardwood is to partly pre-drill the nail holes. I would highly recommend hardwood or metal for a seedling table as it is more tolerant of the outdoors and constant moisture from the watering can.

One thing I really like about this table is it already comes with wheels. I can now move it around to catch or hide from the sun.


Finally... throw a few seedling on the barbie.

Would you believe looking at the photos just now I realised it would have been simpler to cut the bottom self off and use it to complete the table top. Then move the central bars down. Would have looked better too. Dam you hindsight.

17 comments:

  1. Great idea Jason! Especially being able to move it around to avoid/catch the sun!

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  2. This is a great idea you had, and you used completely recycled materials too, which is great! I can't wait to check back on your blog for more self-sufficiency tips like these.

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  3. Funny thing Jason but earlier today my husband suggested this exact thing to me. We have an old gas BBQ that needs to be retired so rather than just chuck out the whole unit, we thought we'd disassemble it and and reuse as many of the components as we can, including using the table for a movable seedling shelf.
    Thank you for sharing your photos as I can now show him what his completed seedling table will eventually look like!

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  4. Our veggie thanks. Being able to move it around is very important as the sun moves around my place in very tricky ways.

    Outdoor Products I love making things out of recycled materials. I often visit the scrap yard before I go the hardware store.

    Serendipity that's great, we can be BBQ seedling buddies. Don't you just love coincidence? Learn from my mistake though. Use the bottom shelf to complete the table top.

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  5. Great advice regarding the bottom shelf. I too love the whole reuse philosophy and enjoy scrounging through the preloved materials at our local recycling centre - Kimbriki. It's AMAZING. Because we have to bring in soil at the moment, we're getting all of our potting mixes there which is made from green waste collected from 5 different councils in Sydney. We need about 8 square metres of pavers for our nursery and found them at the centre for the bargain price of 50 cents each.
    Keep the inspirational ideas coming!

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  6. It looks great! The wheels are an added bonus. A great example of recycling.

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  7. Bev thank you, I am pleased with the way it looks too. I have put out a request to the universe for another old BBQ to appear. You wouldn't happen to have one?

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  8. But then you would have only had one shelf, whereas now you have a top shelf for seedlings and a bottom one that you can store your potting mix on. :)

    Looks great, Jason!

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  9. Loving that idea, now keeping eye out for old BBQ set up......would be a great idea.....also in process of looking how to do shelving for bonsai.....will have to put my thinking cap on

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  10. Brilliant! You can use the bottom shelf for other purposes, like garden shoes.

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  11. Jason you are FABULOUS! I was just looking at our old rusty BBQ today and wondering how I could possibly use it in the garden. And now I know :)

    I hope you don't mind if I copy this idea, I promise to give you full credit!

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  12. Celia no, I still would have made the second shelf except it they would have been the other way around. The table top would have matched in better. Purely an aesthetics thing.

    Katrina once you know what you are looking for it is amazing what just appears. I have no doubt you will find one. On my way to work to day on the bus I saw another out for hard rubbish. I failed to specify in my request that I wanted it to be local for ease of collection.

    Linda why thank you. I am thinking of using the bottom shelf for more seedlings. The sun is usually on an angle so I think that will work.

    Ali thanks, I like being called fabulous. You are more than welcome, happy to inspire. I look forward to seeing yours on your blog.

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  13. Hi Jason, Love the recycling mate. It looks cool too. Something else you may be interested in, and maybe some of your fellow bloggers and followers in Brisbane ... The Brissie Chicks Project. Have a look on Facebook for it and LIKE us if you want to be inolved. Cheers, Dean

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  14. I think you did the right thing leaving the bottom shelf in as it provides important structural support, especially when you want to wheel it around. You would have had to multiple brace if you had removed this shelf position. And as someone above mentioned, the extra shelf is very handy. There are so many old bbq abandoned at the tip shops, this is a great use for them, well done.

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  15. Tanya thank you, I am now going to take a trip to the tip.

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  16. Hi Jason, I found your whole blog very interesting and funny too. But when I got to the part about your seeding table, I nearly fell over!! So I'm not the only clever sod in Aussie using old wooden BBQ frames this way!!! We bought one second hand (complete with gas bottle) for $30 on Gumtree. Hubby did it up and with handles as well, so easy to move around. He did such a great job of it, we use it for the BBQ food as well!!!

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  17. Jo I am pleased to hear you enjoy my blog. No doubt you had the idea first, and your brain waves just happened to bounce off the troposphere right into my head. That was what the ah ha moment I felt was.

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