One of the fun things in Organic Gardening is finding alternative
ways of coming up with the same, if not better, end result...

Household discards can be valuable to the organic alternate enthusiast. Here are a few recyclable ideas to make gardening a little easier on the pocket!

1. Hedge clippings:
Instead of burning or direct composting, beg, borrow or even buy, if the quantity justifies the price, an electric garden muncher. Branches up to an inch in diameter are inserted into a slot and the machine munches them up into small chips. Whilst you are at it, add some grass clippings, sheets of newsprint, including a light application or organic fertiliser or manure. Spread this thickly around shrubs or fruit trees to help keep moisture in, and control the temperature of the soil. Although the addition of these other products will make the mulch a bit more like compost , the benefit here is, that it will break down more rapidly and make the nutrients easily accessable to the plants. Mulching is also an excellent weed suppressor.

2. Household Waste:
All household waste should be composted, this includes: paper products, the contents of the vaccum bag, carpet/floor sweepings, leaves from the gutter, human hair, pet hair, small cardboard packages; and kitchen scraps (with the EXCEPTION of Meat Products. NO - red meat, poultry, fish or pet-food products). All this stuff does is rot, stink and attract pests like flies, rats and other unwanted creatures.

There are many different theories about composting and each gardener will find his or her preferred way.Generally, keeping the compost fairly warm and moist, also, keeping it rather light, as in a good mixture of large and fine products is the overall key to a good result. NEVER, just dump large piles of material, otherwise you end up with impervious layers of stuff, denying the filtering of moisture,air and beneficial composting micro-organisms Or, if you're in no hurry, simply keep adding to a heap, little by little, less is always best when considering compost heaps, and dig out the bottom when required. Sieve before using and the compost, returning the seivings to the compost, then this will be ready for planting small plants and even seeds. Dig it into the garden, too - if there is enough of it.

A good friend of mine, being new to composting, once lamented to me "Composting sure is great, but...I can never make enough of it!" Such is the way of all true composters. Composting is quite an art form, and special composting bins can be bought, or very simply made.

3. Large Products:
Old carpets, underfelt, large damaged cardboard boxes, old towels, bedding and cotton, wool or linen clothes; and similar materials can be laid over the vegetable plot in autumn to help prevent those early spring weeds appearing. Spread over a whole patch and weigh down with stones or logs. This is a marvelous way to clear large areas of groung for new plantings, too. Mow the desired area, leaving the grass clippings behind, spread out all the materials, weigh down with some bricks or lenghts of timber, then leave it for a few months. When the materials are removed - Viola! All but the most persistent of weeds, will have died and returned to the soil as nutrient, ready for you to cultivate.

4. Cardboard Egg Containers:
Keep old Cardboard Egg Containers and similar containers for seed trays. No need to punch a few holes in the bottom for drainage, as cardboard is absorbent. Add a little fine gravel before filling with seed compost. These will last about two times use, then put them in the compost heap. Seed trays shouldn't be deeper than 15cm.

5. Yoghurt pots:
All plastic yoghurt or dessert pots can be washed and saved for re-potting seedlings. Make a holes around the edge of the bottom of each and add a little fine gravel before filling with compost or soil..

6. Glass jars:
Glass jars with sealable lids are excellent for storing seeds, beans and peas for planting next year. (Safe from mice and insects as well) After washing the jars, dry in the oven or sun to remove all traces of moisture before storing your seeds. Collect dark glass jars, or wrap paper round clear jars to prevent seeds being damaged by light. Better yet, just store them in a cupboard.

7. Ice-Cream/Lolly sticks:
Make perfect row markers in your seed trays or greenhouse beds. The wooden ones won't last for ever but you can at least write on them with pen, pencil or crayons!

8. Wire coat hangers:
Make mini-cloches with discarded or broken wire coat hangers. Pull into a square shape. Place the hook in the soil and push down gently until the natural bend in the wire rests flat on top of the soil. Place another a short distance away in your seed bed to create two ends of a cloche. Now throw over a sheet of plastic and hold down with logs or stones. Note: this will work only when creating very small cloches. Coat hangers can also be hooked together to form a mesh, for climbing plants to take hold.

9. Clear plastic:
Keep any clear plastic containers that could be placed upside down over a plant. Cut The bottom off a mineral water bottle to make handy individual cloches. The mouth-piece acts as a braething hole. Large sheets of clear plastic from packaged household items are fine for throwing over mini coat hanger cloches.

10. Black Plastic:
The black plastic ordinarily found wrapped around large pieces of furniture or appliances, is perfect for laying down over large areas for weed suppression - as mentioned earlier. A word of warning - unless the plastic is of an industrial strength thickness, if left in the sun, over a relatively short period of time, it will become brittle and shatter. Not like glass, "shatter" means that it disintegrates into smaller pieces and can become troublesome.

11. Aluminium Rubbish:

Keep the aluminium left over from the bottom of pies, etc, as these make great bird scarers. Old and discarded CD's, too. Thread with thick cotton, or fishing-line as you would for a decoration, and hang on your fruit bushes before the birds find the new fruits. The glittering and noise, generated by the wind, or when a bird lands in the tree, will deter them quick-smart. Replace these 'decorations' when they get old, as they can start to look a little ratty.

Look out for other tools for the garden from kitchen throwaways such as: old kitchen spoons and forks for transplanting tiny plants in the greenhouse. Leaky buckets for harvesting small quantities of potatoes, carrots etc; light wooden boxes for harvesting salads through the summer, and transporting pots etc.

Keep an eye on that rubbish bag and turn the discards of today into tomorrow's Free Garden Products!