1. Rain
When you’re watering your plants you probably want to be conscious about how much water you’re using. A great way to save water is to have some kind of rain water collector that will retain all the water collected in your roof gutter so you can use it to water your plants.
2. Leaves
Leaves are great for compost, but they’re also incredibly beneficial to insects. Leaves left on your garden floor can end up smothering other plants when they get wet, so simply brush them into small piles around your garden or rake them under a bush to create a lovely home for your garden critters.
3. Cooking
After you’ve boiled your pasta or potatoes for dinner, don’t simply poor the water you used down the drain, use it to water your plants instead.
4. Compost
There are so many things that can be made into compost that even I didn’t know about until recently. Here are a few that might surprise you: the popcorn kernels that didn’t pop in the microwave, dryer lint, wine corks, egg cartons (non Styrofoam ones,) the hair you pull off your hairbrush, pizza boxes, cereal boxes and cereal.
5. Bird Feeder
I love seeing birds flit about in my garden and enjoy helping them find food with my homemade bird feeders. The two types of bird feeders I love best are the orange and pumpkin feeders as they’re natural, easy, and repurposed.
If you or your kids love oranges and buy them often then why not make use of the peels when you’re done? Simply slice the orange in half and scoop out the juicy insides to eat. When you’re done eating just fill each half peel bowl with birdseed, wrap some pieces of string under it and onto a tree branch.
The same idea is brought to the pumpkin feeder, if you have any left over from Halloween. The pumpkin is heavier so you can’t simply string it up, but in a tip I found online I discovered how easy it is to fit 2 small poles into the pumpkin perpendicularly and then string it up by the poles.
Do you have any creative and useful tips for recycling things into your garden?
Estelle Page is an interior designer with a green thumb who loves spending time in her garden and watching her plants grow. Here she blogs for Capital Gardens.
