Every day across America, Asia and Europe, millions of pots of coffee and tea are brewed, use coffee by-products in the garden and farm

Millions of pounds of wet grounds, filters and bags are thrown in the trash.  Use coffee by-products in the garden and farm as follows:

Sprinkle used grounds around plants before rain or watering, for a slow-release nitrogen. A great natural plant fertilizer.

Add to compost piles to increase nitrogen balance.  Coffee filters and tea bags break down rapidly during composting.

Dilute with water for a gentle, fast-acting liquid fertilizer.  Use about a half-pound can of wet grounds in a five-gallon bucket of water; let sit outdoors to achieve ambient temperature.

Mix into soil for houseplants or new vegetable bed.

Encircle the base of the plant with a coffee and eggshell barrier to repel pests.

If you are into vermi-posting, feed a little bit to your worms .

Other ways of making use of your everyday household things into practical and useful reinvention:

Used CDs 

Glue two discs together with shiny sides face out and string together through the middle hole as you would a wind chime. Hang and the shimmering reflections will scare off thieving birds and raccoons.

Pantyhose
Put a cake of soap in the foot when camping and tie the top end to a low-hanging tree branch. Cut into strips as a gentle way to tie plants securely to stakes. Cut across the leg to make rings, roll them up for a stretchy ponytail holder that won't break and damage hair like rubber bands do. Put some human hair clippings into toe of the stocking and place around the garden fence to keep deer away.

Small Plastic or Paper Objects for Starting Seeds

Small plastic and paper containers can be used for starting seeds indoors. Repurposing yogurt containers, egg cartons, and toilet paper rolls provides perfect containers for holding soil and starting small plants from seeds. Fill the containers with soil. Add 2-3 seeds to each container to ensure that one plant germinates in each container.

Seeds and Water

Most fruits and vegetables contain seeds that can be put to use in next year's garden. Save seeds from produce by washing them and allowing them to dry. You can store them in the freezer if you are not yet ready to germinate them in spring.

You can repurpose rainwater from the gutters.  Barrels, unwanted plastic storage bins, and old trash containers can all be repurposed for storing rainwater collected from gutters and down spouts.

Cardboard,egg cartons, toilet paper, newspaper,paper bags

Fill the egg cartons with soil, plant your seeds.  When it is planting time, cut the individual “egg cups” apart and plant the whole thing into the prepared hole.  The cardboard will eventually decompose and hold valuable moisture around the plants.

Toilet paper/paper towel rolls

Cut the rolls into rings 3-4 inches tall.  Place them on a cookie sheet, fill them with dirt and plant your seeds.  When you are ready to transplant the seedlings, use a spatula to lift them off the cookie sheet and bury into the garden without removing the rolls. They are biodegradable anyway.

Newspapers

Make your own small seedling pots out of newspaper using a tin can or glass jar as molds.

Brown Paper Bags
Tightly twisted bags make good fire starters with more staying power than newspaper. Or slit, poke holes throughout and use to line your flower garden before adding mulch or potting soil to reduce weeds and serve as a natural mulch.

Plastic Milk Jug
Turn into a watering can with a few holes punched into the plastic cap. Cut off the top and fill with bird seed.  You can also use the old pop or soda bottles to start seedlings and will also look good for flowing flowers.

Fill the containers with dirt and use them plants.  Stab small holes so water will not get stagnated.

In your garden, using repurposed old items as garden art will add whims and interest. And, a great way to recycle!

Actually anything under the sun will do, just use your limitless imagination. You can make your garden serve as an extension of the inside of your house.

    Old Ladders and Scrap Lumber

Make a potting station by laying the lumber between the rungs of the open ladder, creating shelves on which to lay pots, tools and bags of soil. To make the potting station stable, stack the lumber on the lower rungs.

Old wooden Cord Spools

Mount on the wall for a hose wrap, three placed in a circle gives the hose a resting groove. Apply polyurethane on it, and you can utilize it as a small table.

Lumber

Great for larger scale protection of garden rows during a frost.

PVC/Metal  Pipes

Trellises can be constructed by using used PVC pipes giving vines a place to climb thus,  allowing garden soil to be utilized more productively.

Provide pots for growing in small spaces or sources of drip irrigation for traditional gardens. In early spring, garden plants need protection from frost. Materials used to protect the flower and vegetable plants are referred to as garden cloches. Pop bottles, milk jugs, ice cream buckets and other plastic containers make ideal to make a cloche.

The plastic needs to be clear to allow sunlight to shine though, while keeping frost off. Simply cut the tops off large 2-liter pop bottles or milk jugs. Turn the plastic containers over and gently tap the open end into the ground to protect individual garden plants.

The bigger plastic  containers and bottles can be used for container gardening. Simply cut the tops off the milk jugs and plastic 2-liter soda bottles then fill the them with dirt and use them to grow a garden.

Wood, Piping, or Metal Rods for the Garden

Wood, pipes and metal rods are ideal repurposed items for constructing larger protection from frost. Use the items to construct large frames. Cover these frames with clear sheets of repurposed plastic to protect entire rows of garden plants at one time.

Another way to repurpose wood, pipes or metal rods is to use them to create a trellis. Vines, such as squash, cucumbers, and melons, need something to climb to conserve valuable garden space.

Cardboard and Paper

Repurposing cardboard for the garden is helpful when weeds get out of hand. Cardboard makes an excellent weed block.

Break down cardboard boxes and use garden staples to tack the cardboard down in rows to create walking paths through the garden rows.

Lighter cardboard or paper bags can be used for blocking weeds and can be used around plants as long as the roots are able to receive a sufficient amount of water.

Shredded paper can be used this as mulch. Paper works well as mulch and because it is biodegradable, it eventually breaks down and becomes part of the soil.

Brown paper bags tend to be more visually appealing as mulch than white paper. When mulching with paper wet it down immediately to prevent it from blowing away.

from old and ugly to new and pretty . . .

Ever wonder how you can make use of old and unwanted objects around your house?  Well, there are so many imaginable things that you can repurpose them into pretty and lovely garden "eye catchers".  Just make your imagination run wild and visualize how these things can be transformed into something new that you will love to show off in your garden.

Old Ironing Board

You can rest the flower pots on it or use it as bird bath, too. It can also give height to potted plants in groupings.  It is nice to have flowers hanging on it like petunias or plants in vines.

Old Wheelbarrow

It is an interesting flower and herb planter.   One good idea is to bury the front wheel a bit and once the plants bloom it will look like the wheel borrow fell over and the flowers falling with it.

Old Toilet

You can also paint it with attractive colors such as lavender, pink, red or what ever color that may contrast or complement the flowers that will be planted in it.  You can paint it with some artistic designs.  Flowers will be happy to sit on this repurposed seat. 

Sink Planter

Sinks will also do well as a flower bed or for your herbs.  You can  paint it with your favorite color or leave it as is.  Or, you can use it as a fountain with water running on the faucet.  Also, it will make good as a bird bath. 

Also, turn an old porcelain sink into a planter for creeping vines. Place the sink on bricks or cinder blocks to allow for drainage. Place plants in either basin, add box planters to surround it as well. Smaller plants work well, too.

Old boats, Top-down Cars, Trailers

They can be used as lovely plant beddings.  Plants and flowers flowing from the windows will be lovely.  You can transfer them easily wherever you want. Even if you transfer home, it can go with you easily.  Just tag it along!   

Old Dresser Drawers

Use old dresser drawers to house a succulent or small cactus garden, herbs and flowering plants, too.  Actually , any plant will look good in it.

Half-gallon plastic milk or juice jug

You can use it as a flowering pot.  It will make a lovely potting piece especially if it is painted with floral, birds, butterflies and other garden loving insect - or you can use contact paper with pretty designs on it. Cut away the bottom of the jug, then cut out the handle side of the jug almost to the handle in an oval shape. Now you have a scoop for birdseed, potting soil or anything else you need to scoop. Leave the cap on the end of the jug.

All it takes is a bit of imagination and a knack for looking at ordinary objects in a new different way. Will a commode planted with flowers overflowing the bowl sound downright fanciful? Imagine a weathered wooden chair missing its seat as a focal point in the garden to prop up droopy plants. Your colorful cracked ceramic teapot may have outlived its usefulness in your kitchen, but will have a rewarding second life in your patio planter for herbs.

 

Bowling Balls

Paint them to look like garden creatures. One gardener painted it  like an oversized ladybugs and were really cute.

Old Chairs

Turn your seat into something neat and bring garden whimsy to your yard with an easy-to-make, unique planter. Remake the old seat into a unique container – a flower chair.  Replace the missing cushion with a small garden.

Old baths or Basins

Use as flower and vegetable planters. You can plant some white flowers to make it look like soap bubbles and have a head of a manniquin or doll  on one end and have shoes at the other end to make it appear like a person is having a bubble bath.

Small basins can be used as a bird bath, too.

Old Decorative, Mesh Wire, Gate

Hang horizontally to let your vine plants  grow with its flowers either under or on top of it. You can also use it for drying for favorite herbs, vegetables or flowers by hanging it horizontally from the ceiling of your potting, storage or tool shed.

Broken Tiles and Ceramics

These items can also be decorative. Broken tiles and ceramics can make interesting and unusual garden mosaics.  These will also look good for mulching.

Old railway sleepers

It can be used for sturdy and effective garden bench or table.

Car/Truck Tires

Use for flower and vegetable beds. It will be nice to have colorful flowers  planted on it.  You can paint them with different attractive colors.

Old Bed Frame

You can paint it with bright or pastel colors.  You  may cut its leg to have it sit closer to the ground or you may opt not to cut the legs. Then fill where the mattress would be with gardening soil and plant with abundance of flowers.  The flower blooms will make the bed appear dressed in its best spread. An antique iron headboard can be used to plant petunias.  A “bed” of flowers can be a focal point in the garden.