18 Feb 2008 04:38:22 | Jan Money
Copy-write 2005 Jan Money.
A great perk of organic gardening is finding different ways to
achieve the same or improved result.
Many items that are normally binned can be of great use to the
outdoor enthusiast. Here are ten ideas that won’t cost you
anything.
1.Food leftovers: All leftover food is to be composted.
Composting is becoming quite a thing to do, and special
composting bins can be bought or even made quite easily. There
are many different stories of what to do and each person will
find the way that suits them. Keeping the temperature quite warm
is the key to success. If you need quick results then just keep
chucking it on the top and then just pull some out of the bottom
of the heap, then sieve it and the compost will be ready to use
for seeds and small plants. 2.Hedge cuttings: Instead of
ordinary composting or burning it on the bonfire, see if you can
get a hold of an electric garden muncher.
This takes branches of up to one inch thick and you just put
them into a hole in the machine and it munches it up into little
chips. These are great for keeping the moisture in the soil, so
just spread them around the base of shrubs and fruit trees to
control the temperature of the ground.
3.Decorating trays: Keep all roller paint trays and anything
similar to use as seed trays. Get a pen and make some holes in
the bottom of the tray for drainage. Add a little vermiculite or
small pieces of gravel and fill with seed compost.
4.Thrown-out carpets, old cardboard boxes, and other bits and
bobs can be put over the vegetable plot in Autumn to prevent
those early spring weeds from coming up. Spread over the whole
area and weigh down with rocks, lift off on a sunny spring day a
few days before you want to work on it.
5.Recycle glass jars: One’s with sealable lids are the best for
storing seeds, peas and beans until next year. After cleaning
the jars, make sure they are totally dry by popping them into a
warm oven before storing your seeds. Try and collect dark
coloured jars, or wrap paper around clear jars to prevent light
damage to the seeds.
6.Yoghurt cartons: In fact all dessert pots are great for
re-potting seedlings. Again, make a hole in the bottom, put a
little fine gravel or vermiculite and then fill with compost or
soil.
7.Metal coat hangers: Make little cloches with old wire coat
hangers. Make them into a square and then put the hook in the
soil push down until the curve rests upon the top of the soil.
Put another one a small distance away to make the two ends of
the cloche. Then chuck over a sheet of plastic and weigh down
the corners of it with rocks.
8.Lolly sticks: These make great row tags in your greenhouse
rows or seed trays. They don’t last indefinitely but they are
really good for writing the names of seeds on.
9.Aluminium bottle stops: Keep these from milk or juice bottles
and coloured foil around drinks bottles. String together with
cotton to make a bird scarer and put on fruit bushes before the
birds start munching on the fruit.
10. Transparent plastic: These can be placed over a plant in
cold weather to protect from frost damage.
For more info go to:http://www.gardeningsupply.info/articles
About Author :
Jan Money is a freelance writer from Poole, in the UK and has
been writing gardening articles since 2005.
