Our passion for growing trees has in many ways outstripped our capacity to grow them, and so our growing space has become overrun with foam containers balancing precariously on the edges of hard rubbish chairs, bricks and scraps of wood. Some months ago, we claimed some old school tables from a local school’s throw-out pile, and thought they might be good for more growing space. Predictably, the manufactured timber tops very quickly fattened in the moisture, buckled and then started getting slimy.

So, time for some customisation. We unscrewed the slimed tops, and to the steel legs we cable-tied some old bread trays that had been floating around on top of the shed looking for a purpose. The bread trays are better for air circulation, have conveniently high-edges to prevent the knocking off of fragile plants, are water-resistant and actually increase growing space of the table top. Meanwhile, the steel table legs keep the seedlings off the ground and allow for ample circulation underneath. While this design is rather less ambitious or ground-breaking than other, actual Farm Hacks, we were satisfied with the results, particularly since the whole thing was assembled from salvaged materials and should serve us for a few more seasons to come.