As many of us know by now, there are lots of great ways to repurpose and reuse old items at home. Rather than tossing things in the trash, reusing can be an ideal option to be more sustainable—and it's a great way to save money.
One of the most common areas for repurposing old items is in the garden. This seems to be the place where lots of odd jobs can quickly pile up, and small solutions can make a major difference.
With this in mind, we reached out to a few gardening pros to ask them for their personal favorite home items they like to use in the garden. Here are some of their favorites—don't throw away your old pantyhose just yet.
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According to Sarah Warner of Case Western Reserve University Farm, plenty of old containers can be recycled for garden use. This is especially true of milk jugs and similar containers, which are excellent for seedlings.
As Warner explains, they can have a few uses both to get your seeds started or potting young plants up to a bigger size.
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This closet staple has a few innovative uses in the garden. One popular option is to use pantyhose to hold growing melons up off the ground, particularly when tied to a trellis.
But there are other great gardening uses for old pantyhose, says Marek Bowers, founder of Bolder Green, like tree supports.
“When you plant young trees, they often need stabilizing tree stakes,” Bowers says. “You can buy plant tie tape for this purpose, but strips of old pantyhose would work well, too.”
Another great use for pantyhose is to protect young plants and seedlings. Bowers says this is
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With garden openings over for 2024, my ramblings around the garden involve a combination of “this is gorgeous!”, “aren’t we fortunate?”, “thank goodness that’s over” and “how can I improve this?”. Already thoughts have turned to potential ‘tweaks’, nothing major, and ways to improve things I don’t feel have really worked – perhaps I will write a post on them in due course…
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Looking at your latest bountiful harvest, you may realize that you need to learn how to freeze broccoli. This is a great problem to have! When your garden efforts pay off with a bumper crop, you can preserve your vegetables to enjoy year-round. There are several steps required to freeze broccoli, but it’s pretty easy. All you need is a good knife and cutting board, along with a large pot and a large bowl. In this article, you’ll read tips for harvesting broccoli, all you need to know to prep broccoli, and finally, how to freeze broccoli that you grew yourself. Why freeze broccoli from the garden Eating “local”—meaning from the garden—is an aspiration for many of us. While season-extensio
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If you want to put your BBC Gardeners’ World 2 for 1 Gardens entry card and guide to good use this year, The Savill Garden is a must-visit. Set like a jewel in the heart of Windsor Great Park, it’s a garden for all seasons, always filled with colour and sights to behold, but during the summer months especially you can delight in its magnificent roses.