The Dairy Aisle

Hi all! For me, the only thing better than recycling and gardening, is recycling in the garden. I've stated many ways in previous posts how this can be done, but this post is a special highlight of a certain section in the grocery store. The Dairy Aisle. It's not just for making strong bones or breakfast anymore! 

When incorporating recycling into your garden, look no further than the dairy aisle. It is chock full of great items you can reuse.

My Projects:

1.   Drain contents from an egg through a small pinhole, carefully rinse, and allow to dry. Now use for decorations. They can be painted, speckled, and more!

2.   Cut a milk jug into a scoop. Use your new scoop for potting soil, feed, etc.

3.   Compost your spent egg shells. They are great for putting calcium into the soil.

4.   Use empty egg cartons for starting seeds. 

5.   Using a large gauge needle heated by a flame (don't burn yourself) carefully poke holes into a milk jug lid. Now you have a watering can!

Projects to Try:

1.   Use broken egg shells to start seeds in.

2.   Cut a milk jug not quite completely in half, fill with soil, and use as a mini greenhouse.

3.   Cut the bottom off of a jug and use as a cloche to keep your seedlings and transplants protected from the elements.

Be creative! What have you tried? 

Thanks for reading!

"You're using that for what??"

I love upcycling. You ever seen that person with a tire flowerbed or a bracelet made from magazines.  Yup, that's me! While I'm not admittedly too creative with my ideas (that's why I love pinterest) I love the idea of making trash into treasure. This year I'll be trying to incorporate this with my gardening.  How the heck to do this, you may ask. Well, the beautiful world wide web is abundant with ideas, I will answer.  Let me tell you, I'm excited!

So here are some great ideas!

* Make newspaper or toilet paper roll pots. Check out my how to here

* Turn milk jugs, 2 liters, and juice jugs into cloches. My friend Mary has a very informative blog post on this very thing. It's really great and I highly recommend it. Check it out here Homegrown on the Hill

Photo courtesy of nwfoodandfarm.com

* I'm using an old (clean) litter box and disposable cake pans to put my pots in for starting seeds.

* Use cardboard and newspaper for lasagna bed gardening

* You can also use milk jugs to put bigger plants in

Upcycling is really fun and it's wonderful to do.  You can minimize your impact on the earth and maximize your gardening potential at the same time!

What have you upcycled? Got ideas?  I'd love to hear your own experinces and ideas.


Thanks for reading!