Recycling in The Garden

Our first year growing we bought some small pots. Being on a balcony and starting from scratch we've needed to buy a lot of things in: endless amount of compost and the big tubs for outside, seeds, plug plants, bare root plants and impulse buys. But since that first year I've never bought another little pot. I just wash out my previous year's pots and hope my plant buying habit would also supply my pot needs.

Tomatoes Latah and Koralik Bask in Their Reused Pots

The one thing I've never, ever bought is markers. I used cut up drink bottles, usually milk, and write on them with my best hand writing chicken scratch. Sometimes I thing we should spring for something more decorative especially as we grow in such a small space but it never happens. It isn't in the budget. And to be honest I never notice the tiny things unless I'm looking for them.

Of course later in the month beans will be started in toilet roll tubes and my odd collection of cut up bottles will be used to gently encourage the tomatoes to spread their wings outside. You can see the bottles at work last year. Not the most gorgeous solution but it's gone in a week or two so it works out okay in the end.

Tomatillos and Nasturtium, Marked Up With Recycled Bottle Lables

This year I'm looking to expand our garden based recycling. I'm hoping that something will come along that I can use as a cheap or low cost mulch but most importantly I hope I can finally figure out a way to make composting work for our space.