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Recycling in the garden can save you time and money!

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06 Jun, 2024by Julie GibsonInformation, advice and guidance
  • Mini bottle greenhouses

    If you don’t have a greenhouse and want to sow a few seeds or bring on cuttings, here’s the answer. Get a plastic two-litre soft drink/soda bottle, remove the labels and cut off the bottom. Then sit it on top of your cuttings or seeds in a pot. Once the seeds have started to grow or the cuttings have rooted, you can remove your mini-bottle greenhouse.

  • Cardboard seed tubes

    Instead of spending money on seed trays, save the cardboard inner tubes from toilet and kitchen paper. Cut them into lengths of about two inches and stand them up in a waterproof tray. Fill the tubes with compost and plant your seeds. When they’re ready to plant out, you can put them in the ground in the tubes, as the cardboard will decompose. If you don't have any cardboard tubes, make them out of old newspapers. Put four sheets together, cut into three strips and roll each one up.

  • Reuse your coffee grounds

    Don’t throw out your used coffee grounds, as there are several ways to recycle them in the garden. Adding them to your compost adds nitrogen and, when used as a fertiliser, they add nitrogen to acidic soil. They will also deter annoying pests, like slugs and snails, keep cats off your flower beds, and worms love them!

  • Make your own watering can

    Get a large plastic milk jug, cut some holes in the lid, fill it with water, and you have a homemade watering can. You may have to fill it up a few times, but it’s ideal for patio and balcony gardens.

  • Prevent the weeds

    Mulch is the most common way to prevent weeds from coming through but, if you haven’t got any mulch, reuse your newspapers or cardboard boxes flattened out and spread them over your beds and borders to smother any weeds.

  • Reuse your pruned twigs and branches

    Instead of breaking them down for composting or getting rid of them in the garden waste bin, keep some of them back. The shorter twigs are perfect as pea sticks to support growing pea plants. The longer twigs are ideal for sweet peas to grow up. You can also use them on your beds and borders to keep cats off them and to prevent birdlife, like pigeons, from disturbing recently sown seeds and seedlings.