Necessity is the mother of invention- some gardener, probably.
Good morning gardeners, and welcome to the Leftovers edition of SMGB! In light of the fact that it looks like the apocalypse happened in my garden and it’s covered with ice and snow right now, I thought I’d do a diary on some of my favorite garden hacks.
One thing I’ve always enjoyed is reusing and recycling, and it’s fun to spend a few hours on Pinterest or Google to see all the neat ideas gardeners come up with to save some time or perhaps save some water or recycle common household items.
This video showing how to make a fake hypertufa planter out of a styrofoam cooler was right up my alley. If you’ve ever tried to make a hypertufa planter, you know it’s messy and can get expensive!
Here are some uses for those silica gel packets that seem to be in everything these days!
- Use when storing seeds over the winter to keep moisture at bay.
- Store one or a couple in your camera bag.
- Dry flowers faster: you can save them up in a plastic container...empty the packets...and if you want to dry a rose or other flower just place them in the silica face down and cover...leave in a week...they dry and still retain their shape and color!...then you can make arrangements or potpourri …
- Keep a few in your shoes when traveling to kill odor.
How about the ubiquitous plastic bottle? There are TONS of ways to recycle your bottles in the garden.
Here’s a simple way to make fast planters for an indoor herb garden:
Drill a few holes in the sides, place in the ground next to plants and you have a built in drip system:
How about using 2 liter plastic bottles for cloches in your garden to protect tender new plants?
If you’re really ambitious, and have access to LOTS of plastic bottles, you can even build your own greenhouse (how about a cold frame?).
Those are a few of my favorites. So please share your gardening tips and tricks and recycle ideas!