A builders bag makes a great growing container. When our neighbours had a loft conversion last year we rescued a builders bag with about 15cm of sand remaining in the bottom from the skip. We topped this up with the contents of the compost bin and a couple of spent grow bags previously used to grow squashes in. The sides are folded down so it’s just under 40cm deep.

Last year we grew a crop of potatoes in it. This year we have the most fantastic crop of cut and come again salad leaves. It’s right outside our front door and much more convenient for salad picking than a 15 minute round trip to the allotment.

We have a sandpit for our boys to play in and every couple of years the sand needs to be refreshed. The old sand is great for growing carrots. I made a sand trench along one side of a bed at our allotment and planted carrot seed in that. It worked really well; very easy for weeding and the carrots came up well too. Now the sand has been dug in for different crops this year and it’s a great improver for the texture of the very clayey soil on our plot.