Recycling Stuff For Garden/Other Use

[GoDawgs]

OK, all you pack rats... I know you're out there. I can't be the only one who thinks about alternative uses for things before they're tossed away. Besides, recycling is good, yes? Here is some of the stuff I use.

Wire floor fan covers are useful for protecting freshly seeded holes from inquiring kitties looking for a place to dig.

The end of the handle from one of those foo-foo scrunchie back-scrubbie things is flat and beveled, great for popping scallions out of the ground.

Sections of those shock-corded tent poles are aluminum and great for row markers, plant supports and all kinds of tasks.

Large 32 oz cottage cheese or yogurt containers make great starter pots with holes drilled around the bottom edges.

Styrofoam trays that meat is packaged in get used under cell packs

One and two liter soda bottles with the bottoms cut off make great mini greenhouses when put over freshly stuck cuttings.

Old bed sheets are used to cover plants when early or late frosts come around.

The upright freezer that died now lives outside under the old shed and hold bbq materials (charcoal, gloves, grill brush etc) and the big bag of seed starting soil.

Before the old stove got carted off I saved the cast iron grates that each covered two burners in case I ever need to cook over a campfire.

The wire shelving from an old refrigerator comes in handy for drying out onions after harvesting.

What kind of stuff do you recycle in your garden?

[Labradors]

I save waxed cartons that have contained creamer and OJ. They make great "pots" for tomato seedlings which will be given away. Ditto used (by us) paper coffee cups - for smaller seedlings.
Styrofoam containers that have contained meat make great trays for a few seedling pots that sit on the windowsills.
Flatish Styrofoam meat containers are great for keeping melons from touching the ground.
Plastic containers that have had mushrooms in them are kept, as they are useful for giving away packs of cherry tomatoes.
Those big plastic containers of kitty litter are incredibly useful. I don't have a cat, so I look out for them on recycling day. I use them as small weed buckets, for collecting water out of the top of the water butt, for catching water off the awning, and for storing water. In the past, I have also used them (on their sides) as chicken nesting boxes.

Linda

[Nan6b]

Old gallon jugs that are transparent/translucent, cut partway through, holes punched top & bottom, to use as mini-greenhouses for winter-sowing. Ditto for 2 liter soft drink containers, and once in desperation, a grated cheese container.

Furnace filter metal webbing. I had furnace filters that didn't fit our furnace. I used the filter material to make Covid mask filters, but there was this aluminum mesh (about 1/2"-3/4" holes) that holds the filter material rigid in the filter frame. The mesh unfolds into a long piece about 2' wide and 6' long. I've used it as fencing around plants grown outside the garden, or just laid it flat on the ground to protect plants- seems nobody wants to put their hooves or paws on it.

Bedsheets become cloth strips to tie up tomatoes, and they degrade in the soil afterward.

Popsicle sticks are plant labels.

Cardboard makes pathways in the garden. (must remove all cellophane tape.)

The neighbor's (untreated) lawn clippings, pine needles, and other such detritus that he thoughtfully puts on my compost pile.

Pulled-out weeds get piled onto growing weeds for weed suppression. (I'm so lazy I only do half the work ).

Very large trays from unused very large parrot cages become the trays under my zillions of seedlings. I need every bit of space under my grow lights, so I have to be able to pack those pots in. Two trays cover the whole table.

[bower]

I have had a mixed bag of win/lose with repurposing and reusing stuff... I used to think I could use stuff and recycle it later but that turned out not to be the case, if it can't be cleaned you're stuck with it.
I tried a lot of different containers for water, to use as a heat source in the garden. Pretty well none of them held up to being frozen and thawed again except for the apple juice bottles of the kind I love... so I have a huge hoard of these containers which keeps increasing, and don't recycle them at all. But I could still recycle as long as I don't mix up fish ferts or etc in the bottle... I have some of those 'used' bottles around and they cannot be cleaned easily so I just reuse them for ahem, the nastier stuff.
Cardboard, like Nan, I use in the garden.
Yoghurt or sour cream tubs are scoops for dishing out various kinds of ferts.
I have drilled a ton of different containers to use as pots, with varying success in longevity. It's sad to see a container go down broken after a couple of years. Some are good unless crushed by snow and frost, you know I am in a hard climate here, and some plastics are just not strong enough or suitable to be holding heavy soil for more than a season. I have broken buckets, but I have a few that lasted longer and are still good... Over time I am learning to judge the type of plastic and whether it is better to recycle while it is pristine and clean, or whether I can reuse and get some garden value from it. A hard winter like our last one can crush things you thought were good and strong.
Tobacco tubs are really sturdy and I have drilled quite a few to make pots which work very well for things like bok choy with a small profile for growing under lights in the winter. Peppers didn't seem to like the straight sides (did you ever wonder why hort pots are usually slanted? with a narrow bottom. It does seem to make a difference for certain plants!) These sturdy tubs don't survive winter outdoors very well though, while OTOH I have used them year after year indoors or in the greenhouse without any problem.
It never occurred to me that styrofoam trays could be cleaned and reused... I guess I have a huge raw meat taboo. To me it is the most dangerous thing I ever handle, and all the wrappers are ick and scary garbage.

[ponyexpress]

I use the large salad clamshell containers as mini-greenhouses for my alliums and herbs early in the season.

The kitty litter containers are useful for holding rat traps. I drill holes in them, put a metal tent stake through the trap & the bucket and into the ground. The bucket shields the traps from the weather and from birds so they only get chipmunks & voles.

[PNW_D]

I reuse salad clamshells for my home grown greens

and check out recycling options for that old trampoline

https://www.google.ca/search?q=recyclin ... L1tAFuFuM:

[friedgreen51]

I buy used window screens at Habitat Restore for $2.00 each. The screens are used to cover garden boxes in the Spring to protect emerging seedlings from birds, squirrels, etc. Once the seedlings have grown up near the screens I take them off.

I save yogurt cups. The shorter, wider cups are used for seed starting. I slip them into a recycled clear plastic bags saved from where newspapers are protected from rain and tie the ends with recycled bread ties. Taller yogurt cups and sour cream cups become the first pot up cups for tomatoes, peppers and eggplants.

Slats from old mini-blinds become plant labels.

Old sheets and large garden flags are used to wrap around tomato cages when the temperatures take a sudden dip.

Old fabric (tee shirts, Tulle from sewing projects, etc.) become quick shade covers for new transplants that have cages. They get clipped on with old clothes pins that are suitable for laundry anymore or old paper binder clips.

Old landscape fabric gets topped with unused roofing shingles to make walkways between garden boxes. This is a good weed barrier.

Old shredded newspapers go down in the no-till area of the garden.

[karstopography]

Previous owner of house left behind enough old concrete pavers to form up a garden so that’s what I did.

Old paper clips I get from wherever, nothing I buy, I bend those to clean out my sprinkler.

Scrounged up 5 gallon paint buckets for watering.

Zip ties get reused as you can open them back up with a knife blade.

[GoDawgs]

These are all great ideas! I see some I just might have to try.

There have been several times when I've had to "call before digging" and after the utilities folks mark the area, I save those thin wire marker flags. When patrolling the garden, I use the flags to mark new fire ant bed starts in the beds. Then I go back later, start dousing the marked hills and pick up the flags.

[slugworth]

Back in the old days when the city had bulk pickup weeks,I picked up a tall narrow table that somebody made out of 1.5inch black plastic pipes and fittings by the side of the road.More like the shape of a real tall bar stool.
After many years outdoors the glued on wooden top fell off,so I use it as a cage for one of my big tomato plants.
The black color boosts the plants growth and I can water into the tops of the 4 vertical pipes buried in the ground.
I would never build it myself,due to the cost but it was free and I am taking advantage.
I use yarn to keep the plant contained.

[Growing Coastal]

No one has yet mentioned those domes that come over cakes and DQ icecream cakes. They are useful as covers for tender plants. I used one propped on a stick for air over a cuke this cool spring. The cuke's leaves were too large for the 2 L pop bottle.
Also, plastic trays for pizzas and party goodies make good saucers for pots and keep concrete clean.

[asaump]

Don't reuse a lot unfortunate. One thing I have used is that plastic strapping that comes around boxes. Makes good plant markers.

[Nan6b]

Not particularly for garden usage, but air conditioner condensate becomes laundry water, and the boxes from Amazon not used for garden paths become nested within each other to make a great parrot toy. Cardboard toilet paper rolls also become parrot & parakeet toys.

[habitat-gardener]

I used to live in a place that had a recycling drop-off center in town. It was one of the best places to find stuff to reuse! All my plastic buckets, garden chairs, trays, and plastic bins came from there! People would drop off good-as-new, useful stuff when they were moving away. I use clear plastic bins for germinating seedlings and hauling them in and out in the spring, and they don't last more than a few years out in the elements. There was also a nursery that had a recycling bin and an organics bin. Those were great sources for containers of every size and for unidentified plants to bring back to life! I still have some bulbs (pineapple lilies) I found there, and one year I planted about 20-30 linear feet of annual flowers I'd found in the bin!

When I had a greenhouse, I used all kinds of materials to shade it in the summer -- old sheets, curtains, and shower curtains. I've also used old sheets to protect seedlings. Right now I'm protecting newly transplanted okra with a freecycled piece of shade cloth and some newspapers, clothes-pinned to wire mesh.

Last year, when I found out my garden plot had gophers, I used some pieces of old hardware cloth I'd accumulated to make gopher-exclusion cages (100 of them).

The current community garden plot has a small shade structure whose roof is repurposed curtains. The house came with burlap curtains in one room, which my partner didn't like and wanted to throw away! I immediately saw the potential for shading garden beds. Once the grape vines get big enough to cover the shade structure, I will be using them to shade garden beds until they can be composted.

[WoodSprite]

Plastic containers that I buy spinach in during the winter - Hold seedling pots so I can water from the bottom. Also separate seedling pots by watering needs or what I'm keeping for myself verses sharing.

An old AV/TV cart (bought from local college campus surplus store) - Easily wheel my flats inside/outside while hardening off instead of making multiple trips.

1 & 3 gallon plastic buckets that I get for free from local bakeries & restaurants - Lots of things! Cover plants during frost. Carry my handtools and gloves to/from the garden. Collect weeds and carry them to the compost. Collect rocks from my new soil and transport to other locations. Put over burdock and other stubborn weeds in the heat of summer to kill them (by depriving them of light and heating them up).

Bread trays like delivery services use to deliver bread - Dry garlic & onions. Put my flats of seedlings on when hardening them off to keep them up off of the ground so the bottoms of the flats don't get messy (so I don't bring the messiness inside at night).

Plastic ice cream buckets - Collect compost on the kitchen counter & transport to compost pile.

Rectangle containers that mushrooms are purchased in - Hold just a few seedling pots so I can water from the bottom. Add drainage holes and starter mix to broadcast seeds in them.

Scraps of lumber, old broken tool handles, rocks - Lie on soil to mark where I transition from one garlic or seed variety to another variety.

Spinach containers:

P1050395.JPG

AV/TV cart:

P1050755.JPG

Bread Trays:

P1050855.JPG

[slugworth]

Not particularly for garden usage, but air conditioner condensate becomes laundry water,

I used the air conditioner water all week here,we are having a drought

[slugworth]

Back in the spring I cut some hefty branches off a butterfly bush and stuck them in the ground at my future gardening expansion spot.They died, but were stiff enough I think to let cuke plants grow on, upwards,like the pilgrims did.

[Nan6b]

Branches pruned from trees are recycled as stakes for my smallish, pruned F5 tomato plants I'm growing out.

[KathyDC]

I save takeout containers, juice bottles, plastic fruit trays (my favorite because holes are already cut top/bottom), milk bottles etc., throughout the year - which I then use for mini-greenhouses for seed starting. My "save" box is a truly strange sight by about December.

[GoDawgs]

Now and then one of the mini blinds needs to be replaced and I salvage all of the slats. I cut them in thirds and write the names of plants, etc on them and stick them in pots or the ends of rows to mark what's in them. Grease pencil works best for writing on them as it doesn't not fade like magic marker, even those markers supposedly made for the garden. Well, the black doesn't fade. I found out red grease pencil will fade. I also save those rods that you turn to open and close the slats. They come in handy too.

The Magic Curtain things last only about one season. The two that I bought a few years ago live in the garden shed and sometimes get rigged up to shade plants.



A plastic hanger is used for hanging a recipe from the cabinet handle right next to the stove.



I'm not even going to start in on the many uses for WalMart or similar grocery sacks. That's a whole separate post in itself!