Using old boiler flue in the garden

This is the first thread I've started, so I hope it's in the right place. Admin, please feel free to relocate it, if necessary.

I've been having my boiler replaced, and one of the outcomes is the disposal of a.length of metal pipe, six inches (15cm) in diameter. It seems criminal to throw it away, so I've put it in the shed for future use.

I have two sections about two feet (60cm) in length.
Does anyone have ideas on how I can repurpose these? I have some scatterbrained ideas, but it would be interesting to see if forum members are as daft as me, or come up with some better uses

Thank you.

 

I also have kept a similar length of plastic pipe, two inches in diameter, and several lengths of clear, bendable plastic pipe, about half an inch in diameter.
I hate to see this chucked in the bin!​

 

I also have some lengths of plastic pipe, from when the extension was done 10 years ago]- they're for using for radiators. I used those a bit like a cloche, arched and pushed into the ground, but for attaching netting when I had cleared some turf.
As to your metal pipes - I can only think of using them in the same way as chimney pots get used - perhaps for succulents or something similar, but due to the fact they're metal, you may need to keep them in a shady spot, which would limit the plants you choose.

 

I should have said. The metal sections have been painted on the outside. "Almost white"!!

Thank you @fairygirl
Using parts to create a cloche, is something I hadn't thought of.
It's thinking outside the box that always intrigues me. Even outside the cloche.

 

I recently had my log burner replaced.The men offered me my old stove and chimney. When I asked them what would I do with it they said a lot of people use them in the garden as chiminoreas? Spelling!
I declined the offer, I have enough "junk" in the garden already!

 

Is it shiny stainless steel or black iron ?
Suggest you could plant mint in it, wont get out of there !

 

The pipes may look decorative on their own just in amongst the shrubs/perennials, metal coloured or painted.
When I was having an extension built two years ago the builders found some old derelict clay pipes in the ground, and they looked at me daft when I stopped them smashing them up, and said I was going to use them in the garden.
I did put some small pots in some of them but they look nice with nothing in them, just grouped together in a corner of the patio. I don't think it's very imaginative but they do look nice.

Do you think you could hang your pipes up and use them as wind chimes ? or are they too big for that ?

I am like you though, keep things I don't like throwing away, it seems a waste. It's probably due to the times I grew up in.

 

I'm like you, @Michael Hewett
I hate throwing stuff out. We had two open-topped water tanks removed from the loft. One was very large, and I wanted to keep it to collect rainwater, or sink it into the garden as a large planter. I was overruled by my wife. Pipes, okay. But tanks, no way!!


Edited to add:
The pipes are too big to be wind chimes, and not musical anyway.
Nice idea though.

 

Thank you @infradig
Thinking on the mint idea.

 

That's a pitty. My late partner and I were of similar minds and agreed on most things - she would have enjoyed having the tank as a pond. It's different if one of a pair isn't a gardening person.

 

Oh, my wife is a gardening person, just not "junk" person. In our household, we try to agree on things that really matter. However, if we cannot agree, then we decide whether or not it is important. If so, she normally cedes. Occasionally we just allow the other person to have their way.

This time, I relented. It would have been me who had to connect the guttering, or dig the hole.
Having relented, I'm more likely to get my way next time.

 

Here's a photo of the bits. Actually, one of the pipes is over 3ft in length.
I reckon I can use the shorter thick one to try and take strange looking photos.

 

I have a water tank in my garden waiting for me to plant a fig tree in it. At the moment it is on its side, full of logs sort of drying out.I also have a length of sheep fencing which I am sure could be useful for something. There is an 8ft long length of metal mesh on a frame with feet at each end. I have no idea what its original use was but again, I am sure it will come in useful one day. Some lengths of copper pipe will one day turn into a wind chime? The upturned tall planter with a bowl on top has been turned into a bird bath which no bird will use! There is my wheelbarrow with holes in it, lined with a compost sack which"could" be turned into a planter, one day, when I get around to buying a replacement barrow, although while this one is still doing a turn, why spend money?

 

@RowlandsCastle, Are the pipes stable enough to stand upright on a flat surface? I'm thinking you could use them as supports for plant pots wedged in the top with perhaps cascading annuals in. Might look good either side of a door, steps or a pathway.

I salvaged an old beaten copper chimney hood (circa 1970's) from our house when it was being renovated before we moved in. I turned it upside down, secured it to a nearby hedge at the top of a path and wedged a hanging basket in the top. It looked really good as a quite striking shiny focal point, much admired by our NGS visitors one year.

 

I had the idea a few year ago, to wrap the pipe with hessian, tie sticks 1/2 inch diameter all around that and stick a dryopteris filix-mas in the top.
It looked like a poor mans tree fern....which it was as I'm a bloke and I was poor.
It looked good for a few years