Honeysuckle Tool Shed

Shed Features

We built our shed ourselves at the allotment we took over several years ago. An allotment neighbour helped with the build and our grandchildren helped to paint the inside. Our shed is where we keep all of our tools and allotment bits and bobs stored. It keeps everything organised and easy to find. Its where we do all of gardening planning for the year and if there's a sudden down pour it is a haven to take shelter from the storm. After picking our veg the shed is a good place to store potatoes and we hang our onions and garlic from the ceiling to dry out.

Other Shed info

I put it in the eco category as we tried very hard to use only reclaimed materials. We used flag stones and breeze blocks (that were lying about around the allotment when we moved in) to form a dry base. We used reclaimed wooden boards to form the walls, these are old boards from the inside of waggons that were being discarded. All of the nails and screws were collected from dismantling of old fences or were donated to us. We rescued an old front door and all of the windows from the local community that were going to be disposed of. The metal shelving inside was recovered from a skip at work. We had some paint donated and used it to paint the inside to make it brighter, then we put up hooks which are old bits of guttering and nails, this is where we hang our larger tools so we can easily find them. The seats inside we rescued, they were being disposed of by a local pub and a neighbour donated her old bench for the outside, its great for sitting down jobs and can be used to store things. We have a water well below the shed (which was already there) so we built a cover for it to keep animals and birds safe. The only items we purchased were some felting for the roof and drain pipes so that we could collect rain water into the well. There was a large water container already at the allotment so we re-located it near to the well and when the well gets full we use buckets to scoop the water out and put it into the container for storage, so maximising the amount of rain water we collect. All of rain water is used to water the vegetables we grow. We have a honeysuckle plant growing up the front which is great for bees and we have a wood pile behind the shed which is untouched so is a safe space for small animals and insects to find a home. Finally the children painted stones to decorate the outside and made plant labels from wooden spoons which we reuse every year.