BBQs     Reuse in Garden     Furniture and Tools     Types of Composting

In the Garden - Reuse

Discarding items once they have served their intended purpose is often instinctive, but before you condemn something to rot in landfill, take a second look at it and consider whether it can be used again.

One place that many household items can be used again is in the garden, reused materials don’t look out of place and with a bit of creativity can even enhance your outdoor spaces.

Don't buy plastic pots or seed trays to raise your seedlings, they break easily, can’t be recycled and are uneccessary when you consider that you could use empty yoghurt pots or paper egg cartons. You can even buy a kit to make your own biodegradable seedling pots from old newspapers, these are great as can be planted whole in the garden avoiding any transition from pot to garden problems. Grass seeds can even be sowed onto used tea bags and placed in any gaps on your lawn!

You can also help to tell the difference between your parsley and coriander by marking new seedlings with labelled lollipop sticks. If you have a problem with birds attacking newly laid seeds, try making a bird scarer. Free CD's that come through the post and in many newspapers can be hung on strings to make attractive sun catchers that will often frighten birds away from fruit trees and plants. Bird scarers can also be made from strings of metal or plastic bottle tops; drink bottles filled with dried peas or rice is also very effective. As long as they can move easily in the slightest breeze or at the gentlest touch they will frighten birds and small animals away. If you would rather encourage the birds to your garden, why not use empty plastic drinks bottles, cut in half to make a bird feeder?

When planting your pots you can use broken up polystyrene at the bottom of your pot to improve drainage and used food trays can also be used as drip saves under the pot. If you are cultivating large plants they may need the support of a garden cane. To avoid any unfortunate eye injuries make your canes safe with a used wine cork on the top and tie back the plants with an old pair of tights!!

Finally, add a bit of decoration to your garden with interesting borders made from used tyres or pretty garden lanterns, created simply by adding a tea light to used food jas. There are many things you can reuse in your garden, you are only limits lie with your imagination; and not only could you minimise your waste but also save yourself some money along the way!