One of the best things about organic gardening is that you can find different ways to get the same or better results.
Outdoorsy people can get a lot of use out of things that most people throw away. Here are ten things you can do that won't cost you a dime.
- Hedge cuttings: Instead of putting them in a compost pile or burning them in a bonfire, try to find an electric garden muncher.
- Leftover food: All leftover food should be put in the compost. Composting is becoming more and more popular, and you can buy or make compost bins easily. There are many different stories about what to do, and everyone will find their own way. The key to success is to keep things pretty warm. If you want quick results, just keep throwing it on top and then pull some out of the bottom. Sieve it, and the compost will be ready for seeds and small plants.
You just put branches that are up to an inch thick into a hole in the machine, and it turns them into chips. Spread these around the base of shrubs and fruit trees to control the temperature of the ground. They are great for keeping water in the soil.
Decorating trays: Save all paint roller trays and other similar things to use as seed trays. Use a pen to make holes in the bottom of the tray so that water can drain. Add a little vermiculite or small pieces of gravel, then fill the pot with seed compost.
- Lollipop sticks: You can use these to mark the rows in your greenhouse or seed trays. They don't last forever, but they are great for writing down the names of seeds.
- Yogurt cartons: In fact, all dessert pots are great for re-potting seedlings. Again, make a hole in the bottom, add a little fine gravel or vermiculite, and then fill with compost or soil.
- Reuse glass jars. The best ones to store seeds, peas, and beans until next year are the ones with lids that can be sealed. Before you put your seeds in the jars, make sure they are completely dry by putting them in a warm oven. Try to find dark-colored jars or wrap clear jars with paper to protect the seeds from light.
- Metal coat hangers: Use old wire coat hangers to make little cloches. Make them into a square, and then put the hook in the ground and push down until the curve rests on the top of the soil. To make the two ends of the cloche, put another one a short distance away. Then throw over a sheet of plastic and put rocks on its corners.
- You can put old carpets, cardboard boxes, and other things on top of your vegetable plot in the fall to stop weeds from growing in the spring. Spread it out over the whole area and weigh it down with rocks. Then, a few days before you want to work on it, lift it off on a sunny spring day.
Keep these off of milk or juice bottles and colored foil around drinks bottles. Make a bird scarer by stringing cotton together and putting it on fruit bushes before the birds start eating the fruit.
