Here is a list of some “unusual” items to use in your garden.

I have been gardening for all of my adult life, and one thing I have found out over the ahem…twenty so years…is that sometimes found items can and will work better then anything found in a store. I know there are some that will look at this list and think I am completely crazy, but I have used these over the years and they work, and the best thing – they were either cheap or free! I see that as a win-win!

Milk Jugs:

• make a greenhouse, hot cap, watering can, or olla

Egg cartons, Paper towel/Toilet Paper tubes:

• make pots for seedlings

Newspapers:

• use as mulch, kill grass/weeds, or make into pots

Cardboard:

• kill grass/weeds (really works! we used it to kill off grass between beds when we moved our garden last year)

Old Screen door:

• I know it sounds crazy – but I use it to dry onions, garlic, and flowers on. I put it up on 2 chairs or sawhorses and place it on top. it also make a quick shady area for animals in hot weather

Old Sheets/Towels:

• use to cover plants to keep them warm on cold fall nights.

Old Windows:

• make an easy greenhouse/cover for tender plants

Metal Bars, Rebar:

• sturdy metal bars scavenged from old playsets, outdoor swings, etc. – I use them for row markers, keep up the sides of compost piles, and a varity of other jobs

Cinder Blocks:

• use as planters, make raised bed with them

Old Shower Curtains:

• cover plants to make a cheap greenhouse, as they make great tarps – they get nasty just throw away

Lath Strips, Paint Stir Sticks:

• make trellises, plant markers

Egg Shells:

• use as starter pots for seedings, use for compost

Old Silverware – Plastic or Metal:

• use as plant markers

Old Wine Bottles:

• fill with water and place upside down in plant to water it as needed

Coffee Filters:

• put in the bottom of planters

Broken bits of pots/Styrofoam Peanuts, Old Pool Noodles:

• pot fillers for large pots

Pallets:

use as trellises, make into raised beds and I have taken them apart and used them for edging (just make sure they are heat treated instead of chemical treated)

What do you use in your garden that’s unusual?

-D