Wow! There are many many MANY amazing tips here! It really is a shame that not everybody is a GW member and reads this thread. Our world would really be a better place.

Juice Boxes(haha, Juicy Juice ones are my inspiration) with the tops cut off can also be used to plant seeds/seedling in. Though I'm sure that ties in with the milk/juice carton idea...Same for pudding cups.

Laundry detergent/bleach bottles with a slot cut near the top (I used an exacto knife, but do be careful not to slice yourself) makes a great "piggy bank" (to tie it into gardening, use the money you saved to buy seeds, hehe).

This is a questionable one, but use those pesky plastic bags to smoother weeds. We had a couple somehow wind up in front of our porch where there used to be random stuff growing (last year) and this year, just a few days ago, I pulled up the plastic bags so I could clean out the area and there was some really nice dirt below where there used to be wild plants. Just a thought.

I'm going blank right now. I hope to see some more replies with new ideas!

Use drink trays from fast food places to carry potted plants.
Lay a cereal box on it's side then cut an x in the side of a cereal box to carry a potted plant.

Nothing like resurrecting an old thread. Thorsippy, somehow I forgot to come back to this topic. Thanks for the patterns. Lynne

Styrofoam meat trays: Wash (disinfect) and use 2 taped together to mail small plants in bubble envelopes.

Styrofoam Egg Cartons: Save and use in packaging for mailing instead of buying peanuts.

Old no good CDs: Hang to discourage deer from your plants and in fruit trees to discourage birds.

Old (free) pallets from the feed store: Wire four together in a square and use for compost bin.
Small pieces of carpet: 1st use as a doormat for muddy feet 2nd use as a mulch to keep weeds from growing and worms like to live underneath. You can put regular mulch on top or even soil and plant a shallow rooted ground cover on it.

Large carpet: Use under rocks when building a rock wall or path to keep weeds from coming through.

This is my absolute favorite:

Use the tub part of an old wheelbarrow to move rocks and soil around. Drill a hole at each of the 4 corners and thread cable through so that there is enough extra left over to pull it without breaking your back. Thread a piece of old garden hose about 2-3 feet long over the cable at both ends so you can pull this contraption around, then off course fasten the cable.

It's incredible how much we CAN recycle. As an avid crafter, I'd like to add a few ideas; old yard sale chandeliers- take out the wiring, paint, decorate with shells or silk flowers, etc, add votive candles and hang in your cabana, patio, etc. ROMANTIC!
I used a plastic 1 quart milk bottle topped with a used light bulb to make a Christmas angel. Her robes were cut from a wall paper sample book and her white wings from a meat tray. (sorry I have no way of posting photos).
Junk mail and old wrapping paper are used to make paper and paper mache, Pringles' cans make great kalidescopes; use paint, or glitter glue or glass paints or decoupage to cover old light bulbs for Christmas tree decorations; nail holes punched in cans of all sizes make great luminaries, wire clothes hangers make wreaths and forms for topiaries, a 5 gallon paint bucket with lid holds broken china for mosaic projects. Just a few of the recycled crafts I've done. Every piece of junk has potential!! cora

Super great thread!!

Mom taught me most of this: The women in my family have sewed and kept *every* scrap for generations. Several closets have been lost to these scraps, but from them we make quilts, many cloth dolls and doll clothes, baby clothes, and sew bits together to make new heirloom fabrics for sewing vests, shirts. I made stockings for Christmas from heirloom scraps and topped them with bits of gathered organza curtains from the 30's. By the way, Walmart has a dollar/yard table from which I have brought home way too many yards! Three yards will make almost any garment, and some of those fabrics are silks, linens and woolens!

Looking for something reasonable to do with the doubleknit scraps from the 60's. Probably braided floor rugs, but are there other ideas out there? They are so strange and space age!

Very old feather beds/pillows have been remade by several generations, they last a long time! My mom bought new ticking in the 60's and converted her grandma's feather bed into pillows. When she died I got them and recut her pillow tickings into smaller pillows, washed and bleached the tickings and replaced the feathers. They have made great gifts to others in the family. Got the idea for smaller pillows from Mary Jane's Farm Magazine.

Wine corks are saved for cutting stamps in both ends for scrapbooking or bookmaking. My friend Rose uses old tire intertubes cut small for cutting into shapes for stamps also. She glues them to small bits of wood when they are the right shape.

Tin cans make great dog toys around here. My teether loves to chew on them. When he's thru, I use them for starting cuttings and seeds. Buster also loves plastic jars, which he treats like chewing gum, chews them into small bits.

Another thing with wine bottles and corks, and resealable beer bottles is to sterilize and refill with homemade beer and wines. Great gifts and good for us too. I make chickweed beer, dandelion beer, wild lettuce beer, will make elderberry wine this year, I hope.

Cereal boxes get flattened and stored for craft projects. We cut quilt patterns from them, use them for soft cover handmade book covers, postcards and gift bookmarks, homemade paper dolls, etc. They can be painted over with acrylics, and covered with recycled pretty papers.

There's more. When I have some more time, will write again.
Jeanine

Great that this thread is alive! I am definitely going to do canvas bags out of old pants, and napkins out of some pretty old shirts. I have to confess rolling my eyes when people recommend "recycling" plastic bags as poop collectors. This is a problem in landfills because the poop is gassy and infectious. In fact, I have come across many sites that recommend throwing the poop in the toilet, so it gets treated along with human poop before reentering nature. Add to that the fact that plastic bags asphixiate the soil and take at least a thousand years to break down... into toxic particles. Even though we use canvas bags, we end up with a lot of plastic bags anyways, from tortillas, from bread, etc. If people realy want to use plastic bags for scooping pet poop, why do they have to be shopping bags? Let's hope that the new compostable corn plastic help alleviate pollution created by people who don't know better or simply don't care. End of eyes rolling.

Great thread and worth resurrecting (recycling)!

Those wire flags used by utility companies to mark your underground lines are great for fastening soaker hoses and rabbit fencing to the ground. Cut off flag end with wire cutters, cut to desired length, and bend in half.

Old newspapers: use to line planting hole when planting among tree roots. Gives the new plant's roots a chance to get established before tree roots invade. Also good for smothering grass or a weed barrier under mulch.

Use shredded leaves in bottom of pots to keep soil from washing out.

Mesh onion bags are useful for drying flower bulbs. Fill and hang for air circulation.

Kitty litter buckets! Oh, the possibilities in a garden are endless!

Milk cartons--fill 2/3 full with water, freeze, then bash ice with a hammer to have ice for making homemade ice cream.

Put fresh catnip from yard in old socks for cat toys. They love to grab and bunny-kick them!

5-qt ice cream buckets and coffee cans--use to store bird seed, grass seed, etc. so mice/chipmunks/etc. can't get at it.

Old wooden laundry baskets (the woven kind) are great at planting time. I put my trowel, gloves, pruners, plants, etc. in them for toting to each bed.

Rinse soiled hands in the rain barrell.

Old shower curtains make a drop cloth or tarp.

Put plastic grocery bags under astilbes at planting time to hold moisture at roots.

What a fun thread!

Kitty litter buckets are very++ good at containing odors from kitchen waste if you recycle.

My bucket is currently starting to compost itself into sludge in my kitchen and unless you pull the lid off, you'd never know the horrid rot that's in there.

wha? you can be lazy and still recycle, heh.

Old clear shower curtain/liners make great solarization weed killers for planting new garden beds.

Just wet the grass/weeds where you want to plant the bed and lay the clear curtain out over the spot and weight it down with some rocks. Come back several days layer and remove/reposition. All vegetation is dead...

When you cut off tops of 2-liter bottles, use the top for a funnel.
Cut out places on the sides and it makes great home for such as rabbits foot ferns. Macrame holders and hang them 3 or 4 long. You can even draw designs on it. Pretty enough for show.

Credit cards are great to use for small mess clean-up. Clean out corners of a drawer, pick up last bits of broken glass or spilled sugar, bird cage scraper, dish scraper. I save all that come in the mail for these little jobs best use for a credit card!

Wire coat hangers make sky hooks. Theyll hold small tools for gardening and sewing. I have one with over a dozen baskets hanging ready to use for whatever, and one with aquarium tools, one with clothespins holding notes and seeds, another with kitchen sink stuff . . . and when I need another one I just make it.

Bacon plastic makes great cutting board for small jobs you dont have to get out the big cutting board. Punch a hole in it and you can hang it on the back of a cabinet door on the ready. You can also use them instead of paper napkins or plates if all you want is a sandwich.

Gerbils shred my junk mail -- what I dont send back in the postage paid envelopes. I keep them in an aquarium with a lid incorporating a bird cage on top where they come up for food and water (OK, and a little bit of visiting and petting). No mess of cage, and the shredded stuff (sweetened by the little fellers) goes straight into compost or into pots. Plants love it. They like cardboard boxes, too, like from boxed foods

Dry coffee grounds and scatter them (or confine them in fabric bag) to de-odorize your car or wherever. They are great to use as sweeping compound on floors, too. Theyll clean some of those discolored spots and sticky stuff. Ive been told theyre used to clean Oriental rugs. Ive tried it and its nice. Coffee beans are great deodorizers. Nice in a pretty bowl or jar.

Jars of all sizes. Tiny ones hold beads . .. larger ones hold marbles, game pieces, tiny junk. I use only the transparent ones so I can see whats in them. Remove labels, then remove glue with peanut butter. The peanut butter jars make good bug-catching and observation jars for the kids. Its easy to cut out a section and glue screen wire over it for air.

Anywhere you put something down to cover the ground will be quickly found by earthworms. I have an old rug that shelters them. Easy to get bait for fishing!

Plastic grocery bags go into huge floor cushions made from upholstery samples. Kids love em.

Paint brushes are better for dusting anything with crevices and the stiff small ones are great for cleaning all kinds of things woodwork, window sills, anywhere its hard to get at. It gets birds spill out of the grooves in the window.
You can plant in a piece of gutter and wire it to a chain-link fence. If you plant vines, theyll fall gracefully. I guess you could do that on other fences, too, but mine was on an unsightly chain-link fence.

This is such a wonderful post. I think recycling is a life changing adventure where creativity is never limited.

We reuse as much as possible.

Phone books, shredded around grape vines, or in the chicken pen and afterwards go to the compost (prefertilized).

Pallets can be used as anything really, they are great. We have made small things from little boxes, to shelves, to animal pens, a feed shed, and with some longer purchased boards a house.

The cardboard backs off of notebooks can be used as gaskets (I used one in a car and it was still holding on 5 years later)

We use the wire from straw bales as fence clips, to rewire baskets, and crafts.

Cd's are great to string on line and hang outside, when a light hits them at night it confuses the little predators that are after the fruits of your labor.

Cd's also make good corner markers for fences, drives, buildings.... etc.

Olive oil old, it can be used in oil lamps as fuel.

Old egg shells can be crushed fine and mixed with feed for poultry to add the calcium they need to make shells.

Old buckets, with or without lids are great, store feed or seed, cover lid with padding as a light weight garden stool with built in tool storage, or decorate and cover to use in the house for extra storage as a stool or table. No lid... poke hole in the bottom and use to plant about any plant you would in a veggie garden. We also use the bottom half of buckets for feeders and waterers, the top half can be used to surround plants as needed.

Those pesky plastics are everywhere shopping bags, newspaper, bread bags, produce bags....... http://members.tripod.com/pacycrochets/frugal/ This link has other links at the bottom that are very creative. Don't forget to checkout pacy's home page.

Veggie cans can be used as luminaries, by filling with water, freezing, use a nail or punch and a hammer to add design, and thaw.

Our feed store will refill feed bags, the paper ones if kept flat and opened with the string (can be refilled 2-4 times) and saves money, I think it's around 50 cents to a dollar a bag.

Milk jugs are good to paint black, fill with water and use in a greenhouse to catch and store heat during the day, and it releases it at night.

I use my husbands pill bottles to store all my small desk supplies, crafts, beads, small screws, washers etc. I found an ark at a sale that appears to be for spices (it hangs on the wall) and the hole sizes are perfect, just write on the lids (my ark holds 34 bottles)

New, unused sections of sewer pipe (leftovers of course) can be cut and laid on their sides, glued together and painted for seperating yarns, jars of garden seeds, hand tools, or those homemade bottles of wine.

Things I remember from when I was younger .......
distributer caps as pen holders, Bicycle rims and hub caps as the tops of windchimes, sawdust mulch, bed frame trellis', gears as weights for self closing gates, broken dishes used for tile, old pans and nesco's used as feeders waterers and planters, and old flashing with recycled windows used to make pie safe doors........

I could go on forever, I have great neighbors who teach me more almost daily. We all work together to do our part (now if I could just keep up.....lol)

We took the broken cement from the inground pool that we removed and built raised garden beds. We flipped the cement upside down then stacked it. I think that it looks like flagstone for a fraction of the price. I like to recycle and try to find a use for everything. I had a trellis that I bought for a $1 at the recycling center. I just had to find a place for it so I built a frame for it (out of recycled wood) and put it behind my raised garden bed.

http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc250/Jazzygardener/Fountaingarden.gif

I am a bonafide lurker for now.....I am new to this site, so I have a lot of catching up to do and am HOOKED totally!
I have been reading back here in the "archives" about recycling and I am already doing a lot of these things, but I am also learning endless new ideas! Thanks everybody.
I have one thing that I do that my Mother taught me, and that is to take an old topsheet outdoors to the gardens and around the yard and throw sticks, weedings, deadheads, etc on it and when it is loaded you tie the top of the sheet corners together and do the same with the bottom and haul it off to dispose of it. I live on two acres out in the country with flower gardens lots of trees, so you can imagine how much easier it is with the sheet thing. I sometimes have to leave it for a day or two so that things can dry out and therefore not be too heavy to drag.
I have a question for Maria99 and Beemer, you both have a great idea for using old garbage cans for composting! I have looked longingly at the wonderful composters they show in catalogs, but unfortunately I cannot afford them. I need to know how you used them, did you make holes in them? Are they laying on their sides so that you can turn them with your foot? I am pretty ancient "my Grandaughter loves to tease me about that". In reality I find that although I am young in my head my body tells me otherwise. So I am looking for an easier composter than turning it with a garden fork, etc. Thanks, katz

I've been lurking here too. The newspaper seed starting pots is a great idea! I had tried the origami pot and none of them would stand up straight. But cutting 4 and 1/2 inch strips across my newspaper and rolling that around a tomato paste can made some really nice pots. Also I liked using old lamps as trellises. I have had one stuck in my closet that is kind of built like a tomato cage. Funny I didn't think of taking the light socket off it and using it in the garden. I had an old stove-top grill -- the kind that is round, about 12" across, works on your stove burner, has a top "grill" part and a bottom part that holds drippings -- it had lost its paint and was really kind of ugly. I'm going to fasten the bottom part to the top of the lamp and have a place where the birds can drink. If I could find a good-sized metal lid, I'd put that on top and then I could put bird seed in the "trench", since the lid would protect it from rain. If I can figure out how to put a picture on the site I'll post one when I get done. Don't know what I'll do with the grill part yet.

Nobody has mentioned what you do with the elastic that is left when DH's tidy-whities wear out! I remove it by using a razor blade as a seam ripper and cutting the threads that attach the elastic to the cotton knit. I then have a good strong elastic band that I put around my trash cans, just under the lip. It keeps my liner bag from falling down into the trash can. I also just started some seed (in my newspaper pots) and lined them all up in an old square cake pan. Covered with plastic wrap and slid the elastic around the pan to hold the plastic wrap on. Probably there are other uses.

buy an old window at a junk store and hang it on the wall. Use it as a bulletin board, sticking things on the glass with a little tape. Also you can buy 5 of them and make a mini-greenhouse (4 for the sides and the 5th one for the top.)

I use a metal teapot to pour my cooking oil in after I've used it. When I need a little oil for something I pour it out of that.

Planting tiny seeds but don't have one of those gizmos that ejects them (and they don't work as good as you'd expect, by the way) -- put them in a salt shaker.

I bought one of those can openers that opens the can by breaking the seal rather than by cutting through the metal. I really love it. Then if I want to use the can for anything -- and by the way that luminary idea for cans was a cute idea! Not only can you do that to the can, but you can take the lid, which has a nice rim around it, punch holes in it in a heart design or snowflake or whatever, paint it and you have something to hang on your Christmas tree. The lids will even fit back onto the can when they've been removed this way, so you could even use the can to store things in.

I use spring-style clothespins as chip bag clips. You could also glue a magnet to one side and use them to hold things on your fridge.

I buy freezer baskets at garage sales. They're great for storing things in the pantry, especially those bags of chips and cereals. I bought a bunch of plastic crates from a greenhouse that was going out of business -- they were about 3'long by 2'wide by 8" deep -- they fit on my pantry shelves perfectly, long-ways. I was able to put my shelves closer together because once I had my canned goods in the crates, all I had to do was pull the crate out a bit to see what was in there. Works really great when your pantry is deep and you have a hard time seeing things in the back. I guess you could say I just love crates because I buy them every time I see them at garage sales. I bought several "recycling crates" one time. I use these in so many ways. They are big, about the same size as my greenhouse crates but about 12" deep. I use some under the bottom shelf of my pantry to hold big things like jugs of oil, vinegar, etc. They stack and kinda lock together so they're sturdy enough to stack sets of two and use as the base for a work table or a garage sale table by using an old door.

Oh, and don't get me started on old doors. When we moved into the house we live in now, all the doors were those hollow core veneered doors. The previous owner had cut them down to clear the carpet and the veneer had peeled and they were just flat-out ugly. We replaced them as soon as we could afford to. But the kept the old doors. We use them when we need a quick work table. --But keep them dry or they won't last very long.

Pringles cans! If you have a large container you want to fill with silk flowers you can tape a bunch of the cans together and set inside the container. This keeps the flowers standing up. Store things like paint brushes and steel wool in them, either taped together and laying on their sides or singly. Use small Pringles containers to store seeds (but clean them really well to remove the salt residue).

Gallon glass jars are my flour, sugar and cornmeal canisters. My shelves are too close together to stand them up but I lay them on their sides. If I want the contents to show I put them in with the bottoms facing out. But I find them easier to grab with the tops facing out. For things I keep in smaller amounts, I use glass jars that match the gallon jars but are only half as high. Restaurants still get maraschino cherries and I think some other stuff in half-gallon glass jars. Or watch for them at garage sales.

Mesh bags, like what oranges come in, are good containers for black walnuts. As black walnuts dry, they need air circulating. You can hang the bag from the rafters by a hook, keeps the squirrels from tearing up the bag and running off with the goods.

I put everything in the compost except meat scraps. I use a bagless vacuum cleaner (those pesky manufacturers! How dare they sell us a vacuum cleaner we have to keep buying bags for!!) and even dump the contents of that. For me, a garbage disposal is a waste of money. Also fireplace ashes go into the compost bins. If you have vines, you can run over 'em with the lawn mower. Things with stalks, like sunflowers, I just cut the stalks in 2" or 3" pieces with my lopper.

Johnson grass and Bermuda grass are the bane of my existence. It gets into everything. Now we fight back. DH quit using the mulching blade and now uses the bagger on the lawn mower, and we mulch with the grass clippings. Leave a space around your plant stem if you're putting down more than an inch or so, as the grass gets so hot it smokes! We did very little weeding last summer and had a really productive garden. Till it in the following spring. Yes, you're planting grass seeds. But if you're going to mulch again, they won't get past germination.

Old curtain sheers are good for covering up your zucchini and squash as soon as you see that little yellow butterfly/moth flying around. It lays eggs in the stem of your zucchini and then when the larvae hatch, they eat your plant from the inside out! If the plant is covered, the moth can't lay her eggs there. You can remove it after a week or two, when you aren't seeing the moth any more. I also use curtain sheers to shade things when the sun bears down too hot. If you get a surprise rain, the rain will still get through to the plant.

I really loved the looks of that broken cement bed, Jazzy! Wish I'd thought of that when we jackhammered out some old steps and sidewalks!

I don't know about styrofoam. Could you break it all up into tiny pieces, run over it with the lawn mower, run it thru a shredder maybe and incorporate the small pieces into the garden?

I really loved the pocket idea, made with a coffee can. It's getting harder and harder to find coffee in a real can now, but they still sell institutional sized cans of veggies and fruit and they'd probably work as well.

DH made me a "dibble". It's a block of plywood with holes 2" apart. Stick golf tees down into the holes. They need to fit tightly. Press the "dibble" into the ground, makes several rows of evenly-spaced holes to drop your seed into. If you want the holes spaced further apart, remove some of the tees.

I think stockwire -- or cattle panels -- or whatever you call them in your area -- is fantastic stuff! They are sections of galvanized wire fencing, welded where the horizontal wire crosses the vertical wire. They are 4' x 13'. If you have raised beds, you can make arches of these panels by fitting the ends into the inside of the bed. Great for climbing things like beans and cucumbers. The fruit hangs down and is easier to see and pick. Because they're growing up, you can plant the seed really close together this way. DH made me a grape arbor frame out of pipe and we cut the stock wire to fit across the top and down each vertical section. Really makes an outstanding grape arbor.

Also, if you have raised beds and you have just planted your seedlings, you can lay a piece of stock wire across the top. the spaces are big enough to let the plant grow through, but is very annoying to a cat or dog. Once the plants get bigger, you can take the wire off, or not.

That's about all I can think of for right now. --Ilene

What a great thread. Thank you. Any tips I have used have already been mentioned here. I will surely check back often for new tips and if I come up with any new ones, will post.
Jo

My grandfather takes plastic jars with lids (like peanut butter) and screws the lid to the bottom of his work bench and then screws the jar to the lid (so that you have an attached jar underneath the workbench.) Then he puts nails and stuff in the jars.

I recycled four different items to create a seed starter with cap.
1. I used the tube from a roll of heavy duty aluminum foil cut into seven equal lengths to create seed starter "pots".
2. I used the mesh bag from a bag of onions to hold the "pots" in place because I read that a bottomless pot air prunes roots which was good for the plants. They line up in rows of two "pots" followed by three "pots" followed by two "pots" and form an oval. I also tore the mesh to make a carry handle.
3. I used a piece of previously used aluminum foil as a drainage catcher.
4. I used the bottom of a two liter bottle as a cover, which fit perfectly over the seven tubes, to create a greenhouse effect.
The bottle is a two-fer because I used the top of the two liter bottle as a cloche for cannas started in recycled large fast food drink cups. The two liter bottles fit perfectly inside the upper portion of the cups leaving over six inches of growing space before they have to be removed.

I feel really "green".

Someone mentioned this but for a different use i think: I use the large plastic meat trays as planters for my sarracenias and bog plants in the winter.

Glass jars with lids keep my pantry arranged and keep seeds well ordered and dry.

Yogurt containers get drilled for drainage and painted, then sit on salvaged styrofoam trays on a windowsill. They're also great for small quantities of leftovers, sans the drainage holes.

Bleach containers (for the well system) are chopped in half. One side acts as a watering tray or seed planter. The spout side is a waterer for potted plants when we're away. Just poke 2 holes by the top and leave the cap on.

Most of the other things mentioned we already do. We're waiting for the trash can to go south so I don't have to buy an expensive composter.

What a great thread :)

so happy to have found this forum!

got a lot of great ideas in this thread, and confirmation that some of my loony ideas weren't so loony after all.

despite the return deposit the 2liters seem to pile up around here. i like to use them to haul water around because of the limited faucets in this old house (i garden in the attic where there is no water supply) and recently hit upon the idea to make a "rain head" for one. I used a very tiny bit and drilled about 15 holes in a bottle cap. As long as I leave a little bit of air space to squeeze the bottle I have a nice gentle somewhat-controllable "shower" effect in a very small radius.

i was beginning to despair that i would have to shell out big bucks!

i would imagine it would work as well with a wider-mouth juice bottle for larger applications that are not large enough to require a hose.

I just found this little greenhouse made of old CD cases.
I'm building them right now!!

i love this thread!!! ok i have to add onto a few of your others!! the 2ltr tops cut in half, fit perfectly inside of the tide 200 oz and gain big one's. i make my own soap and "downy" very cheaply!! so it has no allergies for my kids and hubby, and i reuse the vinegar bottles for the winter sowing, although this this winter i'm going to use the milk or food containers for foods and the vinegar ones for the flowers and plants. that away if the markers come off for some reason like they did this year, i'll at least know where to plant them!! LOL
i use mainly vinegar to make my laundry soap, and i don't use the felz naptha or the zote, cuz i noticed that the dirt sticks to them. so i use the ammonia and 2c WASHING SODA not baking soda. LOL which you can find at some walmarts, all dillons, iga, or dollar general.in the laundry isle. its made by arm and hammer. it costs alot less to make this than to buy the other stuff and it cleans just as well!! i put in the essence oils you can get at walmart they cost like 2 bucks, at the craft sections, it gives it the smells. i pour the whole bottle in, they are tiny. i do that in the softener and the wash. also if you have a sam's club, you can get the vinegar for 3 something for 2 gal. "which is what i use in each one> also its great that you have no suds for your washer, and if you take your lint trap out, run water over it, if it has build up on it, its one of the biggest causes of house fires. so you should keep them cleaned, you can do that with regular dish soap. i don't have that problem because my stuff don't have all that flame retardent in it, (which means allergies for my family!! LOL) just thought i'd let ya'll know that, if ya want to see what it looks like, i put some in a potpouri thingi cuz i loved the smell, OMGOODNESS!!!! LOL totall goop!! that's even after adding LOTS of water!!! LOL

Great ideas! Here's a few of mine --- they may have been covered already, but here goes:

1. You can use old aluminum foil for a scratcher thingy to clean an iron skillet, or any metal type pans.

2. Old magazines have beautiful slick paper (those pesky ads - haha) that can be used for crafts, seed pkgs., and even gift tags. Some junk mail can also be used.

3. There's a plastic cat-food container that has a handle on it -- I forget the name, but it can be used for bird seed, and of course, pet food storage so you don't always have to deal with the large bags.

4. You can make a great seed/chaff sorter - just take a sheet of any kind of paper, or even a cut up box might do ---take a hole puncher and punch several holes in it ---lay your seed/chaff on it and watch the seeds fall through the holes and the chaff stays on top. Of course, if it's really small seeds this won't work.

5. For plant tie-ups I bought a skein of green yarn (the cheapest) and the green color fits right into my garden areas. I've been using it for 3 years now. You can also spray-paint the stakes green or black and they don't show up as much.

6. Use small boxes, like from Pop Tarts, or spaghetti, etc., as organizers in desk drawers.

7. The 2-litre soda bottles (big ones) have so many uses. Of course, I have several sitting near, or on, my window sill with little seedlings already popped up. Just cut the bottom (use a serated knife --- the jaggedy kind --hold on to the bottle really good --so you won't cut yourself--been there, did that!!) take cap off, cut about 3 inches down. You can use these for years, just wash them good.

8. Another use for the large, or even the small ones, is to cut off the top about 3 inches down. Put several together and lay them on their side. Use clear tape, or even duct tape for the garage or closet, and tape them together. Makes great storage.

9. Broken mirror pieces can be used with seashells and glued on to small tables, or frames, or boxes, just about anything. They sell these little mirror things at the craft stores.

10. Old kitchen plates can be used under pots to catch the water. And they're attractive!

11. You can clean those plastic chairs that have turned a greenish color -- I used Comet and it works good---just takes a little elbow grease.

12. An old metal wheelbarrow makes a great little table outfit. Just add an old metal oven rack or piece of wood to the center and add a cute tablecloth that lets the bottom part show. Add a couple of chairs and a vase of flowers. Instant decorating. And, you can still use the wheelbarrow when needed. I also painted mine.

13. Easy tab-top curtains --- take a sheet and use some of the rolls of ribbon you can buy at Wal-mart -- some you don't even have to sew----the edges are okay ---then hand, or machine sew, the ribbon (after you cut it into 6-8" lenths for the loops at the top, to the top of the sheet. Very easy -- nobody's gonna see it! There are all kinds of colors you can buy. I throw mine into the washer on delicate and it does fine.

14. You can use the sleeves of old long-sleeve shirts and tops for doll clothes. A little elastic, a little trim, and Barbie can have a new wardrobe.

Well, that's all I can think of right now, except this -- I use white sheets a lot since I like the shabby chic look. I find these at local thrift stores for about $2.00. They wash pretty well and can be used as throws, drapes, for cushions, tablecloths, etc. You can bleach them, or use the tea to dye them an off-white color.

Another use for a plastic trash can with a holey bottom. Use an electric saw to cut off the bottom and top so you have a plastic cylinder. Put it inside a leaf bag and fill. Lift the plastic cylinder out and you have a bag of leaves that stayed in place while being filled. Or just keep the holey trash can and use it for gathering blown down branches and weeds until trash day. If it rains into the can the holes will let it drain.
Plastic detergent jugs can be made into sprinkling cans by using a hot soldering iron to melt small holes in the lid.
At garage sales I buy the stakes that hold up Christmas lights along a driveway and use them to hold up plants with thin stems.
When the garden catalogs come with a $25 off coupon if you spend $25 I take advantage of it to get plant supports. Have plenty of plants and they need support.
Squirrels dig in all my containers every spring and I got so aggravated that I thought and thought until I came up with this idea.....I bought, at garage sales and thrift stores, wire hanging baskets (or picked them up from people's trash) and removed the coco liners. I inverted them over my newly planted containers. The wire dome lets in the sunlight and you can water right through it but the squirrels can't get at your plants. After the plants get larger take the wire basket off and the squirrels are no longer interested. Works great!
I often buy large rolls of thick cord at garages sales, it was used for Marcame crafts. It is great for tying up plants because it doesn't cut into the stems.
When I had my old, round topped air conditioner replaced I kept the top, inverted it, set it among vinca vines at the base of my backyard tree, covered the bottom with a thin, old lace curtain that would let water run through and filled it with good potting mix. Planted it full of Impatiense and the rim soon disappeared under the leaves of the colorful flowers and they thrived in the shade all summer. That has been four years ago and I still plant it every year.
Bought an old wooden easel at a garage sale and covered all three sides with green plastic mesh, comes on a roll. Someone tossed it out so I brought it home. Used plastic straps to hold on the mesh and will plant vines at the base. It's late, maybe I'll think of more ideas tomorrow.
Trowelgal

I got one! I used an old belt from my husband's tool belt to stake a tree. I could adjust it to fit just right. It worked perfect. It had a rubber shoulder pad on it so I put that part around the trunk so the belt wouldn't dig into the tree.

News stories, about people who overhaul vehicles to run on used vegetable oil, inspire me. I have started saving my used vegetable oil in gallon jugs. Maybe they will invent lawnmowers, weed eaters, tillers and other yard machines that will run on vegetable oil. Until then, I will save the oil until I get a bunch of it and then try to find someone who will use it instead of gasoline. Anything that I can do to reduce our dependence on foreign oil is a good thing for the environment and our nation.
Thanks Lexi

With the state of our planet and the state of our economy,lets add some new recycling/upcycling ideas.

Well,I have read almost all the posts in this thread and thought it would be great to keep it going.Most gardeners are good recyclers,but I'm sure there's more we can learn from one another.

One thing I do is to use newspaper as weed barrier,as well as old carpet.I'm sure both have been mentioned.

I also use old shower puffs to scrub planters and outdoor furniture.Hang it on the faucet along w a pantyhose w soap scraps and an old toothbrush to clean my nails.

: ) I hadn't thought about using those old torch-style halogen lamps for bean 'teepee' supports - but I've seen several of them in the trash, time for a ground-scoring run when this cold-snap breaks : )

Craigslist is one of my favorite resources - I've swapped fabric for shelving, a big ugly china cabinet for a smaller sideboard-and-hutch model that doesn't block the way in to the kitchen so much, found the peacock-style rattan chair of my childhood dreams, and gotten to give away tons of pack-ratted stuff I was never going to use, not even if I lived to be a hundred...which my husband refers to as 'recycling' our storage space.

another thing I love to recycle is plants - my hostas are mostly rescues, people buy a house, and the first thing they seem to do is rip out the ring of them around the tree in the front yard : ) my irises collections started as a trade for some of the spiderworts that came with my house - most of them have been replaced with lily of the valley, in that dead zone in the shade of the house -

and the garden wall used to be the neighbor's sidewalk, the concrete guys doing the demo schlepped it over to my house for me, since I saved them the dump fees : ) they're doing road work near my house, and I've already talked to the crew about when they're going to 'abandon' the project - there's a broken section of culvert pipe that would make a grreat planter, if I can get my hands on it : )

A new one. I use that skinny plastic bag the newspaper comes in on rainy days. It is usually yellow or blue. I twist it and run the end through the hole at the end of my trowels and other small garden tools. I tie a knot and let it flap. If you lay your tool down and walk away you can find it later, the lightness of the plastic causes it to move in the slightest breeze and catches your eye. Also, the tongue of a wagon (everyone who gardens has a kids wagon, no?)is too short to pull without bending. I took a holey plastic garbage bag and ran it through the handle of the tongue and tied it into a loop. I have been pulling my wagon with that same bag for 8 years! I save all my egg shells and crush them. When it is time to plant my tomatoes I put several hand fulls in the planting hole. Keeps the tomatoes from getting "blossom end rot". I also sprinkle some on the top of the soil to ward off slugs and cutworms. At the garage sales I buy any netting or lace curtains I can find. When I cover my perennial beds with leaves in the fall I use the netting over the leaves so they won't blow all over the yard. I use wire hanger landscape pins I make with my wire cutters. I work for a non-profit and we have events where plastic or styrofoam cups are used. I collect them all at the end and bring them home to use for starting seedlings. Also collect all the plastic utensils and bring them home to wash and reuse.
Let's keep this thread going, the ideas are very helpful.
Tina

This is one of my favorite threads.
I came across some broken concrete the other day and will be going back to clean it up. Yippy !! The start of a concrete wall.

My brother just moved in an old house and took down an old 'lean to' that was made from scrap lumber and old decorative posts.The posts are coming to my house to be refurbished into large candle holders or a plant stand.

I'll be repairing and painting old lattice rescued from the trash.I'd like to make a screen of sorts and plant a running vine to help shade the centrael air unit.

Rescued 4 older office chairs that we are sanding,painting and then covering the back rest with old denim.These will be given to a friend or sold at the next yard sale.

Plan on reusing magazines to make paper beads for jewelry,to sale and give as gifts.

We have a stack of odd size boards that will be turned into birdhouses and little quotation signs.Again,to sale and give as gifts.

I save candle stubs and broken tapers.Also,buy old candles at yard sales,usually by the box or bag.These are melted down and made into new candles.Easiest way is to pour into an old candle jar.

I'm sure I'll think of more things.Lets keep this thread going.

Project: Garden markers for your garden or as gifts

Use #6 plastic (usually take out containers clear not styrofoam) to make your own shrinky dinks in the oven. You need flat pieces of plastic and permanent markers. Just cut the piece about 1/3 bigger than you need, as it will shrink and write or colour your picture. Hole punch if needed. Bake for 1-2 mins in a 300 degree oven. And recycle the parts of the plastic you did not use. This is a project kids will love to help with!

Rhianna

Has anyone else noticed that plastic bags do deteriate. I had some from last fall with some items in it in my potting area. Not in the sun. And they were shreded this spring. I had a few that had been covered with dirt that I had taken from old pots....weather got cold and there it sat on the ground, plastic grocery bags with dirt on them. They were in pieces this spring. I had one tied around a plant that had blow away from a stake (too cold to do anything else at the time...it had fallen apart. So how can they say they will now recycle. I still get at the store because we use for so many other things...small trash can liners, to hold trash in the garden and vehicles. I had one fall apart in the car holding trash in the trunk over the winter. Forgot it was there...So paper all over when I picked it up. (I go thru mail and magazines waiting for the GS at end of school day) I do have cloth bags and when they charge, I use the cloth bags. Have you noticed how 'cloth' Sams bags are really plastic????

Seed storage: I save the little packets of silica gel that come with shoes or leather goods and pop them into my seed boxes to absorb moisture and keep them dry.

The tops of 2-liter bottles make great funnels. The tops of gallon jugs cut below the handle also make funnels, or with the lid still on, a big scoop. The bottom makes a pot for planting cuttings. Cut near the bottom, mini-greenhouses. The bottoms make little trays for holding miscellaneous small items: small hardware, twist ties etc.
I keep two plastic pitchers in the bathroom that I use to catch water when starting up the shower until it warms up. I let them sit for a day to let the chlorine evaporate.
I then pour them into old wine bottles to water my seedlings and houseplants. The long necks help with water high hanging plants or the seedlings on the back row.

I have big canvas tote bags (pharmaceutical giveaway from Mom's chemo drug company) with a sturdy flat bottom and wide sturdy carrying straps. I use them for grocery shopping. They will hold three 1-gallon jugs without tipping over, or the contents of about 4-5 plastic-grocery bags. They fit over my shoulder and are much easier to carry than anything the store will give me.

So glad to see new additions to this post :)
Here's my latest:

Rescued an old,broken,plastic statue from the neighbors trash pile.I'll re-glue and paint if with 'stone look' paint that I already have.Will be a nice addition to a flower bed.

Was cleaning out an old shed at my mom's and found the top for a toilet tank.No cracks or chips....white porcelain.I'm going to check the price for special paints and maybe paint some flowers or something and add to the garden.
The tank is still there.I might drag it home and use as a planter...lol.

Picked up 3 thick plastic utility sinks...free.Plan on painting,because they are a dirty white and I don't want them to stand out.Will use as large planters.

Old wheel barrow....no wheel and a broken handle.Might use as a planter.Put the metal piece where the wheel was in the ground and put a few big rocks around it to disguise it sort of.

More old carpet and an old bathroom mat,along with cardboard boxes were used today as weed barrier in the future rock garden.

I have about 30 old windows that I was blessed with last summer.I'm going to paint a beach scene on one and hang it from chains in front of my bathroom window.This will give me a bit of privacy even when the other window is open
*I live in a rental and didn't want to glaze the actual glass.*

There's a 5 gallon bucket in the bathtub to catch water while it warms up and to catch shower water.Used to water flowers.....not veggies.

Well,it's late and I must get some sleep.I'll be back with more another day.I'll post pics when I get things completed.Keep the ideas coming.

LOVE this thread ladies! This is going to be my new favorite forum! And I thought I was thrifty for using neighbors unwanted rubber and concrete blocks to make raised beds, old barn scraps for garden paths......but you creative people can take it to a whole nother level! I was going to buy a bird bath,but instead decided to use a large white plastic pot that's not being used, turn it upsided down, put plastic pan/bottom on top, fill with water and a few rocks. I want to recycle, I just don't want it to look tacky, as I live in an old neighborhood in an old house and trying to spruce things up a bit.

I recycled an old white plastic birdbath. I have it in my entryway; it makes a very nice looking plant stand for my Boston Fern.

I think that I actually have one that has not been mentioned on this incredibly long thread. Reuse the bag from pretzels and other salty snacks to collect and trash slugs. This year they have been nasty so I had to come up with something to help get rid of them. I also use a chop stick to pick them up or knock them into the bag.

Good gardening, Mary

I have a few ideas to add to this old thread, a little about organizing and recycling.

1. When my husband's t-shirts become old and are in need replacing, one of the things he does is cut the sleeves off and use them as sweatbands for when he's working in the yard. You can easily toss them in with the other laundry and reuse.
2. To keep the sweatbands handy I put them all into an empty tissue box on a shelf in the garage. Keeps them neat and in one easily accessible place.
3. Plastic grocery bags, a sore spot for many, are easily kept tidy by stuffing them into the empty cartons that hold 12 soda cans. Just pull one out when you need a replacement. We use them instead of store-bought trash bags. At least we're not tossing them in the trash bags with the other trash :)
4. Need sheets to cover plants when there's a danger of frost? Goodwill, Goodwill, Goodwill! King and queen sheets and even cloth shower curtains and lighter weight curtains are so affordable there and, when needed, can be easily washed, dryed, and stored for the next freeze warning.

I've thoroughly enjoyed reading the suggestions on this never-ending thread! Just when you think it is about to vanish... someone new finds it and adds another post!

Fire Starters-
Start with a cardboard egg container.Fill the cups with dryer lint.(I keep one going on my dryer at all times)
When I get to the bottom of a candle that won't burn anymore, I put the candle on a coffee mug warmer to melt the last of the wax & get the last bit of scent into the air. When all the goodie is gone from the wax, pour over the lint in the egg container-shut the lid and Voila! Firestarters that you can pull off one at a time!

A great trip from Garden Writer Ken Druse" when building a stone wall or putting in a rock garden, fill old black tube socks with soil and insert in the crevices, use them to plant in instead of trying to stuff dirt in between the rocks after the wall is complete.

Save all those cardboard egg cartonos, toilet paper tubes and paper towel tubes for your local Head Start or kindergarten class. They use them for craft projects.

As for those plastic bags, you can avoid a lot of them with old headscarves folded into bags,Japanese furoshiki style. I stuff my old scarves into the bottom of my purse, pockets, sometimes I just wear a pretty one around my neck until I need it for a bag. They are very strong and will hold a lot of groceries, or wine bottles, or just about whatever you want to carry. Plus they make wonderful gift wrap. You can even stuff them into a cloth bag. One bag will carry a whole bunch of scarves, and you will never need a plastic bag again! You can find them by the bunches, cheap, at most resale shops.

wet news print, place it around plant bed, mulch over.
kills weeds & grass & is organic.
(don't use the shiny ads, just news print. even the colored print since all news print ink is now soy based)

Toilet paper rolls, anybody mentioned them? I mean empty cores, what do you call them. I used them to grow seedlings, putting several rolls filled w/potting soil in a baby wipes container. You can use any plastic box that helps keep them upright. Lets small seedlings grow longer roots. And I just put it in the soil, tube and all, no root disturbance.
At some point, somebody said that grocery bags decompose. Beware: not really. They will fall apart into small tiny pieces that are still plastic and stay around for a long time.
I have developed a unique way of stuffing my hand-made scarecrows with plastic grocery bags. They come out sturdy and lightweight.
(Obviously I reuse most plastic containers that the recyclers don't take and some of what they would take)
Such a beautiful discussion, unbelievably inspiring, I hope it goes on for some more years. There are kindred spirits out there. People here think I am a loon.

Mid Tn Mama..you wrote that you used ammonia water to scrub your floor and then throw the dirty water on your garden afterwards..wouldn't that ammonia water burn the plants?

i think if you dilute the heck out of it it would be ok...

i try and recycle everything, in fact if im buying certain things that will likely break or deteriorate before i die, i think about how am i going to dispose of it. it saves me money. my patio table/chairs was bought becuase its aluminum(if it breaks i can still recoup a few bucks)

lately my thing has been pallets. last weekend i brought 3 home from work, and built a crate (for 2 SWCs i built from neighbors cat litter buckets, wife wasnt thrilled about the sight of cat litter buckets in the yard, dont blame her) a build as you grow potato bin, birdhouse(funny story, that was a bet that i could build a birdhouse in 30 minutes, i took me 45, but still) and a nice toasty fire outside while i admired my creations. i love pallets

check out global buckets.org? just google global buckets. great stuff.

google "self watering container plastic tote" at my thrift stores theres ALWAYS(unless im looking for them) plastic totes.

you can make a seed starting heat mat out of xmas lights, cardboard and an old cookie sheet(items usually at the thrift store)

i save water bottles(we dont use alot) for mini drip irrigation waterers. poke 3-5 holes in the bottom and one in the cap. fill from rain barrel, sit down at base of tomato. 1 liter of water in the soil. less disease. less water wasted.

i can go on for days. i likely will.

What wonderful tips and ideas from some very creative folks. I've read them all, but here is one of my favorites that I did not see. For weeding in fairly open areas I use vinegar or boiling water, but sometimes more drastic measures (chemicals) are required. In very tight places where the vinegar or boiling water might hurt the roots of a very close garden plant take either a 2L soda bottle or one of those small individual water bottle, depending on what size I need, cut the bottom off, take the cap off and place it over the weed or invasive I want to kill then take roundup, put the nozzle in the cap end of the soda bottle and squirt away. Leave the bottle on till the leaves are dry and then take off. This prevents any other close plants from getting over spray. If it's an extreme invasive like a vine of some sort dig a hole just large enough to half bury a soda can, half fill the can with your preferred weed killer or vine/brush killer. Take a few, or as many as you can fit, vines and stick them into the can and duct tape them so they won't pull out,bury the can at least half way so it won't tip over. After a week remove can. Plant should be dead. This last tip I got from another forum member. For obvious reasons extreme care should be exercised with this last tip so no children or dogs can get to it.

This weekend, I was able to get two really old wooden ladders from yard sales. I'm going to wrap them in chicken wire, put them in my veggie garden and they're going to be trellises for my cucumbers.

The kitty litter boxes with covers also make great laying/nesting boxes for your chickens. When it's time to clean them they pop apart easily. They are sturdy and will stand up to having the chicken poop scraped off until you realize it is a never-ending chore and stop doing it.

Is it ok to reuse the dirt that is left in containers once the annuals are done for the season. I hate to throw it away but want to use fresh soil next spring. I have been putting the old soil around established plants because it is not dirt from my ground but from garden centers. Is this ok? what do other people do.

I mix it with whatever other soil I'm using at the time.

An older gardener showed me her "potting wheelbarrow";
she dumps the used soil into an old wheelbarrow & when it gets full or when she needs soil, she mixes it up & sometimes adds soil from the garden.

this was supposed to be only garden related, wasn't it ?