If you like organic container gardening, chances are you like frugal gardening too. On the Evenings in the Dirt Facebook page, we were discussing container ideas. I promised to collect the ideas and put them into a blog post. The ideas don’t have to stop with this blog post. Please add your ideas in the comments.
- Coffee Cans: If you buy coffee anyway, this is an inexpensive way to get gardening containers while recycling at the same time. Make holes in the bottom for drainage, fill with good soil, and see what you can grow. By the way, you know those coffee grounds can be composted, right?
- Rice Milk Boxes: This idea came from a member of the Facebook page community. Is that not brilliant? Sometimes, I don’t consider the usefulness of items right under my nose. It would be extremely easy to create drainage holes in these.
- Gallon Milk Jugs: Once you cut off the narrow top spout, you are left with a wide plastic body. You could sprout quite a few seeds in one of these.
- Egg Cartons: I’ve collected about four or five cartons to get my seeds started. I am slicing off the lid and starting seeds inside the egg holders, which will be placed on a tray to catch any water or dirt.
- A Potato: Hard to believe? Maybe it’s not exactly a “container,” but you can grow and eat the leaves from the ones that are not toxic such as sweet potato.
- An Old Bowl: Although it might be difficult to drill holes to get drainage, you could manage this if you were careful and did not water too much.
- Take-Out Boxes: Here’s something you can do with your old Chinese food boxes, folks! Fill them with dirt and grow some food.
Many thanks to Harvest McCampbell for some of these ideas and for these photos of creative container gardening.
What containers do you use for gardening?
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Nice post!!! Just make sure the potato leaves you are eating are from sweet potatoes or yams. The leaves from the common white, russet, red and related heirlooms such as banana fingerlings and Yukon golds are actually toxic. These latter potatoes, like all tomatoes are in the nightshade family–and while potatoes and tomatoes are good food, their greens are not. Happy Gardening!
Happy gardening to you, too. Many thanks for the ideas!
I use junk mail newspaper, and make folded paper boxes, 3″x3″ or so to start seeds and directly transplant into the garden soil or larger container.
Old colanders. The drainage holes are already there. Also, an old milk crate lined with weed paper.
What good ideas. Thank you for sharing them here.