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Jul 23, 2023

Turn waste products into crafty gardening DIY

These common household objects can serve double-time in the garden. Bonus: You’re saving them from landfill. Toilet rolls, egg cartons and newspaper make excellent disposable seed pots for spring

These common household objects can serve double-time in the garden. Bonus: You’re saving them from landfill.

Toilet rolls, egg cartons and newspaper make excellent disposable seed pots for spring veges - and then there are pantyhose.

To save disturbing roots when being planted out, it’s a good idea to use a disposable pot, which is simply planted in the garden and rots away in time for the roots to grow through.

Toilet rolls and egg cartons can be used, but these can take a while to rot away or they can wick away too much moisture.

The rolled-up newspaper technique requires careful treatment, but it’s a good size and decomposes quickly. Keep them in a seeding tray for moving around and of course, handle them carefully.

For small tomatoes, cucumbers and chillies, use a tabloid newspaper page and a 300ml beer bottle. For bigger plants, use two tabloid pages, wine bottles, and even a piece of large drain pipe for tree root cuttings.

To make a newspaper pot, fold one corner of the newspaper over to form a point.

Then fold the short edge down to determine the height of the pot. I find folding it in half is perfect.

Starting at the straight end, roll the paper around the bottle, leaving enough to overlap the bottom to fold in. Don’t roll too tightly though - remember you will need to slip the bottle out later.

Fold under the base - starting with the pointed end first, then the rest of it and roll the edge around to crease. (It is by folding the point in first that the pot is held together.)

Gently remove the bottle and fill with potting mix to put weight on the bottom point.

Plant up and place in a tray. When planting, place the whole thing into the hole you’ve dug, paper and all.

August-September can switch from mild to miserably bitter at the drop of a hat. Fragile tender seedlings, especially lettuces, are vulnerable to gusty wind, shredding hail and even heavy rain. DIY cloches are easy to make and a great way of protecting seedlings in situ. Bend lengths of chicken wire around a large post first to create a uniform, gutter shape. For most seedlings this needs to be about 30cm high. Cover the wire frame with frost cloth or recycled bubble wrap and anchor down at the corners. Crimp the ends closed, but leave space for some air flow as you don’t want to cook your plants alive.

Don’t throw away your old pantyhose. Tattered tights and laddered leggings make superb plant ties due to their soft and stretchy nature. They also have other uses.

Use the ‘seats’ as hammocks for melons and pumpkins. Immature watermelons are supported by nylon pantyhose that will stretch as the melons grow.

Fill a foot with sheep pellets and tie the leg to the handle of your watering can so that your plants get a liquid feed every time you water.

Line the bottom of plant pots so that the potting mix doesn’t escape from the drainage holes.

Store onions and garlic in knotted legs.

Protect ripening fruit from birds.

Cover seed heads to stop seed being scattered before collecting.

Coriander often succumbs to transplant shock and bolts to seed, so it’s best to plant direct. If soggy soils are against you, try this trick. Start your seeds in cardboard egg cartons, toilet rolls or newspaper pottles. Fill your biodegradable container with seed-raising mix, sow seeds and mist with water, then pop the lot into a plastic bag. Place in a warm spot until germination occurs. Keep the seedlings indoors until the first true leaves have formed, then plant out, cardboard, paper and all (pull apart egg carton compartments first). Roots will grow straight through the soggy sides.

Growing your own watercress is safer than going foraging. Wild watercress can lead to food poisoning, as this peppery salad green is known to suck up contaminants. Sow your own in pots or trays of seed-raising mix and, once growing well, dunk your seedlings into a bucket of water. Change the water every couple of days and rinse before eating.

August 18-28: The fertile period. Plant Asian greens and other leafy vegetables. Sow dwarf peas and snow peas. August 29-31: Harvest, cultivate and work the soil. September 1-3: Leave off seed sowing for now. Weed and cultivate instead.

We will enjoy two full moons this month – on the nights of the 1st and of the 30th so we recognise they represent the coldest nights, possible frosts and in this case are guarding the month as sentinels. This is a sign of a cold month overall. It is also the month that we start to see the tohu (cues) that spring is imminent. Watch for signs of early flowering, lack or masses of flowering, new shoots, bird and insect behaviour to initiate our preparation for kōanga (spring). But first, we need to see out the winter. In te reo, the prefix “here” means to bind or support and this month, Hereturikōkā, is prone to winds, especially during the third week of the month. The māra therefore will need your support to ensure plants are stable and not damaged. Pruning should be complete by now (that is part of the support against the winds) and waste material taken away. In the north, establish the early tāpapa (kūmara beds) to initiate the season tipū for planting around October. Dr Nick Roskruge