Great ideas for all kinds of sustainable projects and ways to reuse items. I’m always a little concerned about using containers with plastics and toxins in my gardens and would have liked more talk about that, but otherwise it’s a great, fun read.

Recycle and reconnect

This book was right up my street. I was bought up to make do and mend and the resurgence of this philosophy is very timely for today’s world.

Angela is honest about the fact that choosing to use recycled materials isn’t always free and sometimes not even cheap but there are so many ideas here to get you started. With a bit of imagination and thought the possibilities for reusing, recycling and upcycling are endless. For instance I would never have thought of reusing an old apple corer as a mini bulb planter for snowdrops, using an old car to make a secure chicken house or making a greenhouse from plastic bottles - and that’s just for starters.

If you have children there are some great opportunities to get them involved and feed their creativity at the same time. One little girl even started her own business during lock down creating works of art from used tin cans - hats off to her. This book would also be useful source of ideas for parents, grandparents, teachers, child minders, nursery schools, brownie and cub groups etc.

Above all her book speaks to a greater reconnection with our world and there is a wonderful feeling of ‘rightness’ about her approach. I think anyone who gardens could learn something from this book and I would thoroughly recommend it.

I was given this book from the author via netgalley only for the pleasure of reading and leaving an honest review should I choose to.

Recycling in the Garden is a well written practical guide with ideas how to reuse and upcycle items in the garden by Angela Youngman. Due out 30th January 2023 from Pen & Sword on their White Owl imprint, it's 160 pages and will be available in paperback and ebook formats. 

This is a whimsical and fun guide full of projects for upcycling and recycling items in (and for) the garden. The author has also included useful information about resources such as water and energy and how to divert and conserve the resources to which we already have access. There are projects and ideas from small (bamboo insect hotels readers can recreate in about 10 minutes with items already likely on hand) to very large (recycled earth-pit dug greenhouse with recycled glass and materials). Not all the included photos are things which most readers will adopt at first glance. I can't imaging there are many gardeners, no matter how much they're also motor enthusiasts, who will want to turn an old scrapped auto into a raised bed garden!

There's a comprehensive index, as well as an abbreviated links and resources list included in the back of the book. 

Four and a half stars. Full of useful and clear photos and good ideas. This would be a good choice for public or school library acquisition, allotment groups, community gardens, smallholders, and suburban gardeners.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Gardeners tend to be recyclers and this book gives so much information on re-using everyday items into your garden. Recommended.

A very simple book with lots of practical and common sense ideas for reusing refuge from the garden in the form of compost, seeds, energy and water. Secondly by repurposing hard items for use in the garden, and reinventing their uses to enhance the space..
A very easy to read book, well written and straight to the point. Plenty of ideas and great recycle projects that are fun to do. Thanks you NetGalley and the publishers for the DRC

A guide that made me learn a lot more about recycling as it's easy to follow and informative.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

As a reader you can see that the author has put a lot of thought and effort into this book. There is a vast amount of information regarding all kinds of recycling in the garden from pots to wheelbarrows and waste to stubs. There seems to be no limit to what you can do in a garden, and if you feel like you are out of ideas check this book out! Repair, reuse, recycle! You can do for instance water recycling, energy recycling, and natural recycling. Remember this book in the spring!

The title sums it up nicely: It's a go-to guide on how to take basic household things and grant them new utility within a garden setting.

It's splendidly and colorfully presented with plenty of pictures to help convey the idea(s). It's arguable that Youngman doesn't go into explicit detail on how to integrate each and every item, but I'm sure there's YouTube videos and articles galore if you want to inquire further (this book has a page of resources, on top of some case studies). The set-up is simple: We're pretty much going through the list of titular items in alphabetic order. Buckle up and get ready to re-purpose.

I was happy to know that I currently employ some of these "hacks", and I most certainly learned of a few more through this work. I like it, and it'll be handy to keep close by. Hopefully Youngman experiences enough success that there's future volumes/editions.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Pen & Sword, and White Owl for the advance read.

I wasn't sure what to expect and was delightfully impressed with this book.
The author sounds veru knowledgeable and gave much more information than I anticipated.
There is information on environmental issues and composting and decorative items to recycle ~ something for everyone!
I enjoyed the historical aspect of the book as well as the tips, tricks and educational aspects.
This would make a great gift for any gardener.

This Has Been a Big Help to My Mum & I With Our Back Garden & Now it's More Glorious than Ever thanks to it!
(Thanks to Net Galley & Angela Youngman for this Book).