As consumers, many of us are constantly looking for ways to reduce our environmental “footprint” — recycling, reusing, repurposing — in an effort to help better the environment. There is also an upward trend in homeowners planting their own garden to reduce environmental impacts from chemical applications and minimize chemical residues on produce. So it makes sense that homeowners have come up with incredibly ingenious ideas to repurpose common items until useful garden hacks.
These awesome 9 ideas will take some of your used plastic bottles and reuse them creatively in your garden, saving them from being thrown away or sent away to be recycled.
1. Mini greenhouse
Tender plants, seedlings especially, will benefit from being grown inside clear plastic bottles. Cut the bottom off of a clean bottle and place it over the plant, pushing it down into the soil. This mini greenhouse will help protect the plant from frost, rain, and wind.
2. Drip Feeder
You don’t have to install fancy, expensive irrigation system to self-water garden plants. Drill/poke holes in the sides of a large, clean plastic bottle and then bury it next to a plant so the neck is slightly above the soil surface. Fill with water as needed.
3. Watering can
There’s no need to buy a watering can if you have a spare juice bottle at home! Clean it out well, and using a small drill bit, drill holes in the cap. Fill the bottle with water, screw the cap back on and you have a DIY watering can.
4. Sprinkler
Poke or drill holes in one side of an empty, clean 2-liter plastic bottle to create a yard and garden sprinkler. Add a female hose end, a female swivel adapter, and some hose washers to connect it directly to your garden hose.
5. Fruit Picker
Picking those high limbs on your fruit tree(s) just got incredibly easier with this great plastic bottle hack. Take a 2-liter bottle, cutting a hole on the side at the bottom, and then add a handle to the neck of the bottle. Slip the fruit into the hole, pull down and your peaches, pears, and apples drop safely into the bottle.
Picking those high limbs on your fruit tree(s) just got incredibly easier with this great plastic bottle hack. Take a 2-liter bottle, cutting a hole on the side at the bottom, and then add a handle to the neck of the bottle. Slip the fruit into the hole, pull down and your peaches, pears, and apples drop safely into the bottle.
6. Wasp trap
Some sources, like State-By-State Gardening, encourage gardeners to let wasps freely fly around the garden to ward off other pests and increase pollination. But if you’d rather not tempt fate and end up stung, using a utility knife and a stapler, it’s easy to fashion a DIY wasp trap out of a plastic bottle. The wasps enter to get to the solution but struggle to get back out.
7. Plastic scoop
Gardening can be simplified with something as straightforward as a garden scoop. Use it to dig planting holes, or distribute mulch around the plants. Take a vinegar bottle, detergent bottle, or other rigid plastic bottle and carefully cut off the bottom/sides to create your scoop.
8. Fill planters
Garden containers can get really heavy if rocks/pebbles are put at the bottom of the pot to encourage drainage. To keep containers lighter, making them easier to move, fill the bottom of the pot with clean, empty plastic bottles (with the caps on), and then add potting soil to the desired height.
Gardening Know How recommends using plastics with the #1, #2, #4 or #5 label for safety.
Gardening Know How recommends using plastics with the #1, #2, #4 or #5 label for safety.
9. Hanging bottle planter
Create an eclectic hanging garden by upcycling plastic bottles to use as planters. Remove the bottoms using a sharp utility knife. Decorate with thread, punch holes to use for hanging, and then plant with your favorite plants.
These great ideas reduce plastic waste while creating great garden hacks. Take an empty plastic bottle or two and get crafty, making something useful for your outdoor space!
SHARE this article on Facebook to pass the ideas along!
[Source]
