Reducing, Recycling, and Re-using in the Garden

Author: Annie Warmke

Gardening is naturally an activity that lends itself to reducing, recycling, and re-using resources. In any garden the first goal needs to be to reduce inputs. Next, we should recycle, especially by composting as much plant material as possible. Finally, we should strive to find ways to reuse items that would otherwise be discarded.

Below (in alphabetical order) is a list of tried-and-true ideas that my husband and I have used around the country and in Europe. Finding uses for discards is an earth-friendly activity that can inspire student creativity, plus you can incorporate recycling/reuse activities into your math, language arts, and art curricula. Share this list with your young gardeners, and watch their imaginations go wild!

Bed Sheets
Wrap clean sheets around a towel that was recently used to dry a person or a dog (or let the dog sleep on it), then place along the edge of the garden. Use replace the towel with a newly “scented” one after each rain.

Business Reply Envelopes from Junk Mail
Use for seed collecting.

Campaign Signs
The metal hoops that form the legs of campaign signs work well as supports for short vegetable plants. The wire is stronger than that of regular coat hangers.

When frost threatens, place hoops over short plants and cover with row covers, old sheets, or towels to produce a protective tent.

Canning Jar Lids
Make a hole in used canning jar lids and thread with heavy string. Hang them in the garden where they’ll swing and catch the sunlight, flashing and scaring away berry-stealing birds and foraging deer.

Nail used canning jar lids to sticks for use as plant markers. Paint or use permanent marker to write plant names, dates of planting, and so on.

Cans
Cover coffee cans with wallpaper samples or contact paper to create lovely vases. Fill with flowers and offer to friends.

Cans make handy and durable seed scoops for wild birdseed, and for scooping soil into pots for seed starting.

Cardboard Boxes
Lay large pieces of cardboard in garden paths and cover with straw. Makes a very durable, weed-free path.

Carpet Remnants
Use as weed barriers under a layer of mulch.

There are several castoffs you can refashion to repel pesky deer.

CDs
Use them as sun catchers, or like with canning jar lids, to repel birds and deer.

Cereal Boxes
Cut cereal boxes to various heights to create little organizers for seed packs, cards, or for use as desk drawer dividers.

Coffee Filters (used)
Use them repeatedly for collecting and drying seeds, and when they won't stand up anymore, use them for sprouting seeds in plastic bags.

Coolers/Ice Chests
Use to store small garden supplies.

Dryer Sheets (used)
Place them in the bottom of pots to keep the soil from running out and to prevent slugs from crawling in through drainage holes.

Feather Pillows
On spring days when rain is not expected, place a handful of feathers on a piece of cardboard where birds can find them for nest building. If they blow away, don't worry, the birds will find them! (Note: Do not put dryer lint out for birds to use for nests. It gets wet and dries hard. Add it to compost instead.)

Garden Hose
For earwig control, place short (1 to 2 feet) lengths of hose around the garden where earwigs are a problem. The next day, shake the pests into a can of soapy water. (You don't want to get rid of all the earwigs because they are good at controlling some other pests, but this method is unlikely to eliminate them!)

Metal Baskets (from chest freezers)
Cover seedlings with metal baskets to protect them from digging cats. Use them to protect your catnip from felines, too!

Use them to support row covers over tender seedlings. This is especially effective on very cold nights when you want to keep the cover from touching the plants, or to protect seedlings from heavy rain.

Pallets
Put potted plants on pallets to discourage roots from growing into the earth below.

Use as a platform for kids to stand on to help them reach a tall table or work surface. If there are wide gaps between the slats, cover pallets with linoleum, plywood, or heavy cardboard.

Use as a raised sidewalk over muddy patches in the garden.

Kids who know worms know they love newspaper!

Paper
Newspaper and all uncoated junk mail can be composted. Worms love it! Place it in the garden, cover it with grass clippings, and the worms will find it and break it down.

Layers newspaper several sheets thick in garden paths and around plants, and cover with straw. Makes a very effective weed barrier.

Make seed starter pots by wrapping two or three strips (about 3x12 inches) around the sides of a small can, such as a soup can, fold the bottom down over the bottom of the can, tape the bottom, tape the side, then slide it off. Paper pots hold up quite well, and you can plant the whole thing right in the soil.

Start a worm-composting project with a small trash can. Shred newspaper, moisten it, add a bit of soil, mulch or fallen leaves, and some composting worms. The castings left by the worms make rich fertilizer for plants!

Potting Soil
If you want to reuse potting soil, pasteurize it first in a simple solar oven. Here's where you can get instructions:
Solar Cooking, Blue Rock Station Style
Solar Box Cooker
Build Your Own Solar Oven

Plastic Grocery Bags
Hang bags from the hoop on your garden apron as a handy place for stashing weeds and trash while you work.

Plastic Sandwich Bags
Stick plant cuttings into used plastic bags, add some water, then zip closed around the plant stalks. Hang bags from a curtain rod or clothes line with clothespins, and you can watch for roots to form.

Soda Bottles or Milk Jugs
Wash and dry, and cut off the bottom third of the bottle. Bury the neck of the bottle in the ground next to a plant that requires a lot of water (e.g., tomato, pumpkin) and fill with water daily. This gets the water right to the roots.

Use them as vases for transporting cut flowers home. (This is very handy if the child is riding home in a car, because soda bottles fit into cup holders!)

Cut off the bottom of a gallon milk jug and use for seed starter trays, or as paint trays for garden art classes.

String
Hang odd pieces of string around the yard in trees or discarded baskets for birds to use as nesting material.

Tires
Car and tractor tires make great raised beds. Cut the top rim away to increase the planting space. Visit www.tirecrafting.com for more ideas.

Toilet Paper Tubes
Use to start seedlings of plants that are sensitive to transplant shock (morning glories, cypress vine, sunflowers). Cut four 1-inch-long slits in one end and fold the tabs inward to create a pot with a bottom. Fill will soil and sow seeds. Plant the entire tube outside. Give them plenty of light and air circulation to prevent mold growth.

Tube Socks
Cut into strips and use to tie tomato plants to stakes.

Umbrellas
If you have no choice but to transplant seedlings on a sunny day, use old umbrellas to shade them.

Annie Warmke is co-owner of Blue Rock Station, a green living education center. Annie learned to reduce, reuse and recycle as a child and never outgrew it. She is a scientist, writer, and lover of nature who milks goats and loves helping anyone who will listen to love the earth in some small way. She has written and contributed to several books with topics ranging from natural gardening to raising money to help battered women, and her work has appeared in newspapers around the world.

Annie is a member of the Kidsgardening Advisory Board. This board of youth gardening experts and advocates from around the country provide NGA staff with ideas, suggestions, and feedback for kidsgardening.org

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