Happy foraged Xmas.... greenery is all from my garden!

Recycling rubbish!

Courtesy of Empty Common Garden's blog

I like to think I believe in the Rs of recycling: Retrieve, reinvent, reuse (first mentioned here in this Community Garden Blog). In this instance I am not retrieving from a river but from the blue bin. I have been recycling:

• plastic fruit punnets to use as cloches on pots in the greenhouse, also soda bottles cut in half as ground cloches
• plastic packaging to pick up cat poos in the garden
• toilet rolls to make planters (just stand on a plastic tray)
• small plastic containers to store seeds
• ice cream wooden sticks to label plants (you can write on them with a pencil) and chopsticks saved from sushi restaurant visits (you can write on top fat bit)....

Other ideas I have:

• re-using teabags and coffee grounds as mulch
• keep nut shells to scatter in raised bed as they deter snails
• oranges' and lemons' netting could protect a small plant from pigeons
• use grass cuttings to deter weeds
• use moss growing among my grass to line hanging baskets as it keeps moisture
• keep stones I find when digging up in the ground to hold moisture for potted plants
• use raspberry and blackcurrant leaves for making tea
• Encourage mint plants so I can use their leaves fresh or dried to make tea
• Use nettles in compost bin to encourage compost making (and wee if I can pee in a pot - as shown on Gardeners' World not long ago)
• Keep the pond clean as frogs are saving me a fortune in slug pellets

More ideas to come! Happy gardening.... Here is a cute idea from Charlotte, who is the Empty Common Garden's Coordinator.... More ideas are on that blog.

Making something out of (nearly) nothing

Michela helped Charlotte build a bug hotel using recycled materials.
Find out how here

Decorating biscuits is a popular party activity for kids. This is
marvellous creation by an 8 year old girl

The Botanic Garden in Cambridge has activity drop-ins once
a month. This mini dry garden is very pretty