‘Before’ shot of the old tent trailer shell.

A few months ago, Chris K. and I were busting our butts trying to build and prepare new garden beds in advance of all the planting we wanted to do for our new farmers market business. As we cleared away space in the garden for our long row beds, we crept closer and closer to the rusty, old tent trailer shell that’s been parked in a sea of creeping buttercups since before I moved here (photo above).

When Chris flew east to visit family for a month, I put some thought into this piece of ‘junk’ that sat parked behind our new beds and beside our cute, new greenhouse and knew that something had to be done. Recognizing that getting it to the junk yard wouldn’t make it onto anybody’s priority list anytime soon (inconvenient money and time commitment), I decided to get creative with it right where it stood. 

Since I was desperate for more planting spaces, it made sense to me to turn it into a raised garden bed. I propped it up so it stood level, cleaned it out, filled it with composted soil and topsoil, plopped in some trellises, and planted pole beans and three varieties of cucumber. 

I had intended to paint the exterior a bright, barn red colour, but since time and money weren’t something I had a lot of at the time, I figured I’d plant first and paint later (I’ll share a photo if I ever get around to that :).

I’m very happy with the result. Something that was ugly and useless is now playing an important role, keeping our cucumber plants out of reach of slugs, and looking much more beautiful now that it’s overflowing with vibrant, green life. A very satisfying DIY repurposing project! Glad everything is growing so I can finally share my before and after shots :)

‘After’ shots of the repurposed trailer shell below.