Worn-out Cotton Underwear
- When I have underwear that has come to the end of its life, I cut or rip off the waistband and legs and use those for tying up seedlings or plants. The body of the underwear can be used as small gardening cloths, or used to get into those tiny spots when trying to clean your glass & screen doors. You can either throw these rags away, or in your washing machine if you want to re-use.
- —NorthVanGirl
Cardboard Weed Control
- I bring home card board boxes from work. Take off any tape. Cut the boxes to put around my shrubs to keep the grass down. Cuts down on weed eating.
- —mabs21676
Recycling Other's Cast-Offs
- When our winter Texans leave, they discard hoses , blocks, & timbers. Drill holes in hoses, to make soakers. Blocks can be used for paving stones/planters and the wood for raised beds.
- —Guest joe fleissner
Recycling Plastic Tubs
- Punch holes in base of plastic tubs for drainage then use as pots until plants are big enough to plant out.
- —Guest GILL
Plastic Water Bottle "Cloche"
- I use gallon size clear plastic water bottle, with the bottom cut off and the top screw cover removed for air circulation. This will be exactly like "bell cloche with vent" which costs over $15 each. I put them over my strawberry plants so that squirrels cannot get to them, but sunlight can go through, and there is enough air circulation for the plants. The plant has sufficient room to grow and the strawberries can ripen in this protected environment. Also to re-use these plastic bottles can reduce waste in our land-fill.
- —Guest Apbbear
Scraps of Glossy Photographic Paper
- I make fungus gnat and whitefly traps using scraps of photographic paper. The white borders of our home-printed photos are usually trimmed off after printing. By using these rectangular strips of glossy paper and painting them with Tangle Trap, I have home-made bug traps. I place these sticky traps on the soil surface of my houseplants, capturing the adult fungus gnats and whiteflies, sometimes even houseflies. Outside, I have used these traps for flea beetles on rows of potted tomato seedlings. The glossiness of the photo paper is the key. It stops the Tangle Trap from being absorbed or drying out. I replace the traps about once per month in winter, when I seem to have the most trouble with bugs on houseplants.
- —Guest Waking Dream
Another Shoelace trick
- When I am braiding my freshly harvested onions, I drape an old shoelace in among the long onion tops. It is knotted to one onion as I begin. Weaving over and under during the braiding process is strengthened by the cloth shoelace, especially for those onions with short tops. The finished braid hangs more reliably, too, discouraging fungal diseases with the air flowing all the way around it. When I want to use an onion, I cut it off the braid with a pair of scissors, cutting only the onion's neck, not the shoelace. And it's pretty!
- —Guest Waking Dream
New Life for Used Shoelaces
- Save the shoelaces before giving up the old shoes. Wash them first and then use them for tying up the plants in the garden.
- —Guest Kam Fok
For the Birds
- When I brush out my dog's fur in spring I put the hairs into a fine mesh bag & hang on a convient branch. Good nesting material
- —Guest GILL
A few tips:Seed Saving & Cleaning Leaves
- I collect as many of my own garden seeds as possible and store them in cleaned and sterilized prescription bottles (baby oil cleans sticker residue completely-and without any petroleum distillates or icky fumes!). The colored bottles protect them from light. I use old toothbrushes to clean leaves of my African violets and other fragile plants. Since I have some "productive" horses adding to my compost pile, I have to check closely for weeds but, as a bonus, I also end up with some very hardy "renegade" tomato plants each spring because the methane keeps the prior years' seeds warm enough to germinate. I have more than enough for myself so I try to pass the extras along to a community garden.
- —Guest V
Recycling CD Towers
- Old CD towers make wonderful containers for storing seeds.
- —Guest GILL
REcycling CDs
- Use old CDs as bird scarers by threading a loop of string through the center and then hanging it on a branch
- —Guest GILL
Recycling Animal Bedding
- After using shredded papers as small animal bedding it goes onto the compost heap
- —Guest GILL
Thermokol box as seed beds
- Thermokol (Polystyrene) package materials around refrigerators, TVs, etc are the best waterproof materials for seedling development and vegetable plot development. They are light weight and easy to move.
- —Guest Dhanashri
Trellis Idea
- I use a bunk-bed frame given me as as trellis for my pole beans and Malabar Spinach.
- —Guest Rick
