Friday, 26 June 2009

Recycle Week

It is Recycle Week and over the course of this week many members of British Mummy Bloggers have pledged to waste less. I have been tagged over at www.beingamummy.co.uk to join recycle week and make a pledge of my own. As I have received this tag at the very end of the week I am not going to pledge to achieve something over the course of the week with a forfeit at the end if I don't meet my goals. Nor am I going to tag anyone else to do the same. It seems a bit late in the day for that.

But recycling is important so I thought I would raise the issue by offering up three garden recycling ideas and tagging all my readers to post a comment with their best garden recycling ideas. I will then submit this post to the British Mummy Bloggers' Recycle Week Carnival where hopefully one or two bloggers out there will be inspired by your ideas to recycle in their garden this summer.

And here are my ideas;

1. You don't have to use plastic pots to grow things in or spend loads of money at the garden centre. Anything that can hold compost is essentially a plant pot. I intend to recycle all my children's old wellies by using them as plant pots. This will be a lovely display of growing feet as well as beautiful blooms. Just remember to put a couple of holes in the bottom first for drainage.

2. Wash your veggies over a washing up bowl and use the water on your indoor plants. I picked this tip up from Three Valleys Water Newsletter and I intend to do it, not least because I often forget to water my indoor plants, so much is my attention on the outdoors. So I will waste less and possibly save the life of a couple of plants.

3. Make use of those old plastic bags still lying around your house to scare the birds away from your veggies. Tie them SECURELY to a bamboo stick and the rustling/fluttering should keep the birds at bay, in windy weather at least.

So there we go. Now get commenting! I am looking forward to reading some other garden recycling ideas and if you are reading this on the British Mummy Bloggers Carnival check out the comments. I hope by the time the carnival kicks off there will be some great ideas for you (and me) there.

And thank you Karen for raising the issue and getting everyone involved on your post at The Rubbish Diet.
Posted by at 08:52

12 comments:

  1. I save up all my toilet roll inners and use these for starting off my seeds. Because they are quite deep they are great for seeds which have long roots, or you can cut them in half if you don't need the depth. The seedlings can be planted out without removing from the toilet roll inner, which doesn't disturb their roots.
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  2. I love this post and thank you so much for getting involved in Recycle Week and the BMB carnival. We regularly use our old wellies as plant pots and they look really fab and funky. This year, we reused an old tyre as a plant pot too. The geraniums that I plant in there now look fabulous. Karen :-)
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  3. I have buried an old chicken pellet tub for my mint.
    The tub is big, so the mint should have plenty of space, and I used a saw to cut the bottom off, so that the roots don't get cramped.
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  4. Hi I another that reuse old leaky wellies and toilet inner tubes. Since last year I also stopped buying 3" pots and have been using all my empty food tins for potting on mainly during the spring months, its great when giving away plants cause then I don't have to worry about giving away a bought pot. I also use those plastic covered ties that are used to secure kids toys in packaging, there great for tieing plants to supports, etc.
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  5. Old CDs can be hung like a mobile and hoisted above veggies - the clattering noise and flashing reflection in sunlight help to scare away pigeons from those precious crops.
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  6. Another tip - old carpet laid on weedy soil helps smother the weeds - you have to chant "Die weeds die!!!" as you lay it out. We've currently laid old carpet over our bindweed and ground elder filled patch and have our fingers crossed.
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  7. I put bucket in sink and fill this when running hot tap in kitchen - so all the cold water which comes through first is saved for watering garden.
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  8. Polystyrene packing that comes round new appliances, mail order stuff etc can be used to in the bottom of plant pots etc both to aid drainage and also to save on precious compost when planting in larger containers. Containers with polystyrene in base weigh less too - easier to shift round.
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  9. Old woollen jumpers can be used to line hanging baskets instead of expensive and endangered sphagnum moss.
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  10. Take cuttings and divisions - increase your own stocks and share with friends. Save seed for next year. An onion that goes to seed can provide next years harvest. Beans that are accidentally left too long before picking (easily done when the glut begins!) can be left to fully ripen and kept over winter.
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  11. My particular favourite - drink plenty of wine so you can put the corks on top of bamboo canes to prevent accidentally poking your eye out (especially necessary precaution after you've drunk all that wine).
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  12. You have been awarded with the "HONEST SCRAP" award. Click artlover, then go to "Mixed Media Journal ~Leap of Faith ", and claim your award.

    Mariette xox
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