Introduction

Instead of throwing them away, many everyday items can find a new use in the garden.

This is not an exhaustive list but some tips include:

• Reuse plastic bottles as mini greenhouses to protect tender plants or half bury and use as a water reservoir during the drier months
• Dry and reuse crushed egg shells around seedlings to protect them from slugs and snails (these will need replacing after it has rained). Coffee grounds are a good deterrent too
• Use loo roll tubes, yoghurt pots or old fruit trays as containers for seedlings
• Reuse plastic tubs on the tops of plant canes as eye protectors
• Use old carpet (preferably natural fibre), sheets of newspapers or lawn cuttings as a mulch or weed suppresser around established plants or when you are establishing a new flower bed
• Use plastic bottles as home-made bird feeders or bird scarers
• Reuse old panes of glass to make a cold frame to protect tender seedlings
• Reuse broken crockery, such as mugs, in the bottom of pots as crocks to help with drainage
• Line a hanging basket with an old woolly jumper
• Use cold wood ash (not ash from coal fires) to feed plants – the ash is a natural source of potassium
• Make leaf-mould every autumn from fallen leaves, which break down into superb potting compost
• Use old carpet as a ‘lid’ for a compost heap
• Source or donate unwanted garden tools through Freecycle or Freegle groups – or groups like Tools for Self Reliance or The Tools Shed Project may accept donations of good quality garden or building tools
• Ask your local garden centre if they accept old plastic flower pots for recycling
• Finally, make the most of the rain which falls in your garden by saving it in a water butt – you can buy water butts through our home composting offer.