Inexpensive Upcycled/DIY Ideas

Photo by Mr. T in DC

Who among us doesn't dread taking out the trash/recycling. I know I do, but if I repurpose some of it the load is lightened. Today I noticed that my recycling is getting especially full. Since I'm not wanting to walk the all of one block to take it out in this heat, I decided to repurpose what i could.






Plant markers are something I desperately need right now but really don't want to pay for. With all my fall veggie seeds it's tough to keep track of what's what. Even if you do, it's still nice to have labels for convenience purposes. A quick, easy and FREE way to get a lot of these is to reuse those plastic packagings and bottles. Whenever I buy something it always seems to come with lots of plastic packaging and so my recycling gets mighty fat. You can cut them into large strips or small stingy strips. If you're really conserving them you can use dry-erase marker instead of permanent. Either way these make plant markers that are (in my opinion) much better looking than those ugly white plastic ones at Home Depot.

Greenhouse covers are another good way to use those plastics. If you are using small cups you can cut bottles in half and cover your plants with them. Here I've used the packaging from some telephone wire I bought last week. If it fits, use it! I wrote underneath with dry-erase marker so these babies can be used again. they fit so well!

Old ice cube trays make great seed starters. When I moved in the previous tenant had left tons of old ice trays and other junk. I've found that even though I won't drink out of it there's no need to waste. My plants like it quite well.