Recyclables in the Garden: A Green Thumbs Role in an Environmentally Helping Hand

Spring has sprung! right? What's that mean? Spring planting! Now is the time to plant, sow, and appreciate your efforts in the garden. And though you may think, "Jeez, I'm planting stuff isn't that "green" enough for the environment?" You can go one step further, and at the same time plant money in your wallet. How? By incorporating recycling into your gardening.

Recycling for your spring planting is like all recycling. It only requires a bit of creativity, and maybe a few minutes more effort, but a few minutes can equal several hundred dollars in savings. To get your flower buds popping I'll throw some ideas out there.

Look to the trash:

Hot houses:

A hot house is a temporary box structure that is placed around a plant to keep plants warmer in colder times. (An unexpected chill during spring perhaps) They increase yield, protect plants and extend grow seasons beyond the spring and summer.

Items that could be used:
- Carpet roll covers. Carpet selling stores often have large pieces of clear plastic they simply throw away. It's thicker than your average plastic, and since the pieces are large it's easy to work with.

-Look to warehouses for wood. Any company that has product shipped has pallets, made of various woods. Often they either sell these at reduced rates, or even throw them away. We salvaged over 3,000 dollars worth of wood from one warehouse this month alone. We built an entire green house for free this spring!

-Trash glass. Check sites like craigslist, or freecyle for folks who have replaced windows, and are looking to get rid of them. Or even look at your local dump, even car windows can be used to make small hot houses for your spring planting.

Flower pots:

Seedlings often fare better if started in small pots, and spring planting doesn't necessarily mean outdoors, or even on the ground.