One of the little frustrations in garden clean-up is keeping yard bags open when weeding or collecting debris. Bags that flop closed take extra effort every time you try to put stuff in. You can sense it doubling and tripling your work time. For me, regular burning of debris is not a logistical option, besides most of it being too green to burn. I don’t have a vehicle to take things to the dump. So, yard bags it is, and lots of them to take care of my acre.
That is why I was so pleased when my son presented me with my new yard bag stand, which I explain in this YouTube video.
Here is a list of materials used:
- 3 pieces of 1/2 inch diameter schedule 40 PVC pipe, about 27.5 inches long each. The higher the “schedule” number, the thicker the walls and stiffer the pipe, so some stiffness is needed here. If you want to understand more about PVC pipe strengths, I recommend this reference.
- 3 pieces of 3/4 inch schedule 20 PVC pipe, cut lengthwise and about 3/8 inch trimmed off of that cut. The thinner walls of the schedule 20 pipe here make it easier to clip off and on.
- 6 sections of irrigation pipe, about 22- 23 inches long each
- 6 irrigation pipe “T” connectors
- yard bags
Other tools:
- any kind of hand saw
- propane torch or heat gun (preferred for controlled, minimal heating). It only takes a few seconds to heat it, but be careful not to catch the PVC pipe on fire. If you are going to do a lot of softening of PVC pipe, you might want to make to make this simple oven from to use for that.
As I say in the video, I have used the yard bag stand successfully a couple of times. I anticipate many more happy bagfuls! (click on any photo to enlarge)
