How to Make Garden Art from Junk

Gather items from your shed or garage, such as old tools and ladders. Watch for interesting trash from your neighbors, such as old medicine chests, chairs and discarded garden supplies, like pots. Set aside chipped mugs and saucers, or find mismatched pieces of pottery in your local thrift shop.

Hang old, rusty tools on the fence to create free-form art. Alternately, arrange the old tools into animal- or people-shaped sculptures. For example, a rusty hammer can serve as the base of the body. Weld two washers to the top of the hammer head to create eyes. Add rebar legs and a garden rake tail and your animal is complete. Use whatever supplies you have on hand to make your own.

Arrange broken tiles, mirrors and pottery in a mosaic pattern on a piece of plywood. Use grout to hold the pieces in place and fill in the spaces. You can make a decorative piece of garden art, spell out your name or address, or use the mosaic around a mirror. Hanging mirrors in your garden give the area an expansive feel.

Glue a cup and saucer to the top of a piece of copper tubing or wooden dowel. Use a waterproof, weather-resistant adhesive to attach the pieces together. Fill the cup with birdseed or water to attract wildlife to your garden. Large, plain coffee cups can be painted with outdoor enamels or you can use quirky mugs from a thrift store.

Stand a metal headboard in your garden for use as a trellis. Train climbing flowers to grow over the decorative bed frame. The frame can be painted a bright color, a muted shade or left to age on its own.

Repurpose bowling balls in your garden as custom-made gazing balls. Use vinegar to remove the wax finish, then coat the ball with a plastic primer. Decorate it with outdoor paints and then apply several coats of polyuerethane to protect it from the elements. You could also create a mosaic directly on the bowling ball.