Gardening eco-tips

We have more of your great eco-tips: This time, gardening! Please click the link below to see our favourites.  Thank you for all your entries! This finishes our eco tips competition, we would like to say a big thank you to all who entered and we loved reading all your tips. We hope you will follow some of the tips you posted!

“use toilet roll cardboard centres to grow seedlings”
“I use toilet tubes to grow my peas in.”
The cardboard is fully biodegradable and allows your plants to stretch their roots out. Great tip.

“Invest in a water butt for the garden and collect and use the rain water for watering the garden/plants and also washing down the patio etc.
We have put a butt under the guttering on the garage so that we collect the rainwater to use i the garden rather than it going down the drain.”
A water butt can be a big money saver and very eco-friendly when it comes to saving water! Rather than using a hosepipe you can cut your water use, and if you have a water meter, you’ll save lots of money too. Natural rainwater is also healthier for plants. If you don’t have a water butt, look here!

“Invest in a compost bin, use all your kitchen scraps and grass cuttings and save yourself money next summer when you have home grown compost.
Grow your own veg and use a composter to recycle and feed the garden to grow your veg”
Always a great idea to do this if you can. Compost bins are a wonderful source of free compost. Try the kitchen composter or worm bin for sources of natural compost.

“Hang unwanted CD/DVDs in garden to scare birds off your fruit bushes!”
“Use old CD’s hanging from string to keep the birds and cats away from your vegetable patch, they do a great job and look magical shining in the sun!”
Your old CDs and DVDs will glisten in the sun and turn slowly in the wind… Birds won’t like them at all and they can be a very effective deterrent!

“get the kids to help plant seeds and watch them grow. if they tend to then regularly they appreciate where their food comes from, and mine love eating what they’ve grown”
Kids can then be encouraged to have a healthier life working in the garden in the future, enjoying healthy and fresh fruit and vegetables that they really did grow themselves! Very nice tip.

“you can never have too many watering butts or compost bins! Add guttering to all your outbuildings and collect as much water as possible.”
As we mentioned making your own compost and your own water supply is a wonderful idea and helps towards a truly natural garden!

“use your old coffee grounds on your garden as it deters pests,slugs and snails without harmfull pesticides, also it will stop cats using your garden as a litter tray!”
We have to admit we’ve never tried using coffee grounds as a natural deterrent but it seems a great idea. Much better than using harmful nasty chemicals which we are completely against!

“‘Recycle’ all your waste food by making your own compost heap and ‘recycle’ your bath water by using it to water your plants or to clean your garden path/patio.”
Any waste food can be made into compost. We must say to be careful and would recommend a secure composter so to not risk attracting rats. Old bath water can certainly be used for cleaning.

“save the rain water the garden”
“CUT OLD DRINKING BOTTLES IN HALF, PUT SMALL HOMES IN THE LIDS AND ADD WATER THEN PUT THEM IN YOUR FLOWER POTS, THIS WILL FEED YOUR FLOWERS SLOWLY AND WHEN TYHE RAIN FALLS IT WILL STORE THE WATER AND REALEASE IT SLOWLY”
What a great idea! We love the idea to make little greenhouses out of water bottles. Just make sure the plants don’t dry out and you will have a safe environment for seedlings and flowers.

“Keep old tolilet rolls and plant runner beans into them they can then be planted straight into the planting area.”
“cut up and use the cardboard insides of toilet rolls and kitchen rolls to pot seedlings in. Also cut plastic 2 litre bottles in half to use as cloches to bring on the young plants in the garden.”
Two tips in one! We mentioned both before, thanks for these!

“shred all personal documents when you have finished with them and add to the compost bin. This helps security and the environment”
“add any shredded paper to your compost ..it keeps the heat in and breaks down quicker”
“shred your confidential details to prevent identity theft and then layer in your compost bin with your grass cuttings to prevent them going slimy or overheating.”
There are uses for shredded paper, especially private details like this, and this is a good one! It biodegrades very quickly and will aid the composting process too. Well worth trying this if you’re an office-type or get a lot of personal post!

“chop up banana skins and put them around the base of roses, they love the potassium and will reward you with bigger and better blooms.”
We have never tried this, but it sounds like a great idea! Try it and see…send a photo to us of your roses if you have good results!

“#Feed the birds, watch the wildlife and do away with the need for garden chemicals as they eat all the slugs and snails!”
Birds do eat slugs and snails and we can’t agree more about not using garden chemicals. Try other tips for kindly deterring our slimy friends too!

“dont use slug pellts simply save your egg shells and crunch them arround potplants and delicate plants. the slugs dont like the feel and will keep away”
“Beer traps are great to get rid of slugs in your garden. Just get an old, large milk bottle, cut it in half and dig it into the soil so that the top is just over the surface. Fill it with some lager and watch the slugs gravitate to the beer. A brilliant organic, chemical free pest control method.”
Another nice tip and this one works too. Slug pellets are possibly the worst thing you can use in your garden, they are dangerous and harmful to almost every animal including humans. If you don’t have enough shells, ask friends and neighbours! Wonderful tip, thanks!
If you have a severe slug and snail problem try the beer trap technique too. Still millions of times better than chemical methods!

“When you have finished growing tomato’s in the Autumn, the soil from the grow bag makes a lovely top up to the soil in flower beds.”
We agree, if you get a grow bag then don’t throw away the soil, it’s great to use for other plants. We would also always encourage peat-free soil in grow bags and compost as peat based soil production often leads to the destruction of wetlands and marshes.

“recycle old CDs they make attractive coasters. embellish and use them on hand made cards. Hang above seed beds to deter birds.”
More useful uses for old CDs! Thanks a lot, 3 great tips to make the most of your old discs.

“Children can decorate the plastic containers from supermarket fruit or veg (seashells or pebbles look lovely and get them out for walks searching too!). Then use as planters for herbs (grown from seed) on the kitchen windowsill”
“I re-use the plastic containers that tomatoes and fruit come in as a propagator for my seedlings”
While we wouldn’t encourage buying many of these containers (not recyclable, lots of packaging) children can decorate them as containers- they will last a long time! You can make collections from them, turn them into propagators, plant pots…ask your children to express their creativity and use them yourself too.

“When watering your hanging baskets put a bucket underneath, this catches the water that drains through and you can use it to water your pots, saving water every time.”
Similar to a water butt but this tip is unique! A lot of water will fall out of the bottom of basket when you water them. The water can of course be used many more times! Great tip.

“when you have to run the tap for hot water save it in 6 pint containers for the garden”
This is nice because most hot water tanks don’t give you instant hot water, and you can be left running the tap for a long time until hot water is produced. A lot of water may get wasted, so save it for the garden!

“Don’t throw away your old teabags, put them on your garden. Good for your plants.”
“to use used teabags for garden plants”
“Use used tea bags to mulch into plants”
“split open tea bags and empty onto a compost”

There’s no need to split the teabags as the bags themselves are completely degradable too. They encourage faster biodegradation in your compost and we think this is a lovely idea.

“Use cardboard egg boxes to grow seeds in. When the seedlings are big enough, each egg section can be divided and put directly into pots to brought on. The cardboard will degrade in the soil. Children love this idea and can create lovely designs on the egg box sections too”
A lovely tip too, thanks for this. Egg boxes make great little seed pots, we completely agree, and they will degrade to the soil too. We love this tip!

“Did you know that ash from a log fire/stove is wonderful for fruit trees/bushes”
No, we didn’t realise but it sounds like a great tip! Much like the banana skins on roses tip, it’s always nice to try- you could be well rewarded!

“Use ice lolly sticks to make labels for plants in your garden”
This is a great one!! They’re wooden so will biodegrade within a few years. You can write on them using a pencil to identify which seeds you put and where they are too. Thamks!

“Grow your own in a recycled pot. Plastic milk bottles with their tops cut off make perfect planters, perfect for small gardens. My children are growing peas, runner beans, tomatoes and strawberries in theirs.”
We love to see children encouraged to garden using reused items and this is another lovely tip for doing this. Thank you!

“Cut the bottom off plastic bottles, make a hole in the cap, tip upside down, and fill them with water to water your plants Plastic bottles with the bottom chopped off make good funnels.”
Wow more uses for plastic bottles- mini watering cans! We really like this one, thanks!

“New potato scrapings are a good fertiliser for tomatoes”
Again we didn’t know about this cool gardening tip, although we do know sometimes potato peelings can sprout to make new potato plants too!

“Grow lettuce in a grow bag or outside container. Just sprinkle the seeds in the pot or growbag and then you can harvest the lettuce just as you need it. You cut down on a lot of packaging and waste and you have the satisfaction of watching the lettuce grow.”
We never knew it was this easy to grow lettuce, so please give this a try! Thank you for the tip – we’re looking forward to our own fresh lettuce!

“Adopt some battery hens: You can save the hens as well as producing your own eggs and garden fertilizer!!”
Make sure you know how to properly care for hens, but if you live near the country then this is a really nice idea, we love to see battery hens who lived in a terrible environment have a lovely home.

“I make my own seed pods for vegatables by reusing empty toilet rolls – I fold over one end a couple of times and put the finished pot into a plastic supermarket tray that holds up to six. One the plant is strong enough I can simply plant it into the garden without removing the pot!”
Lovely idea with a really nice description of how to do it. We really love going into detail and encourage others to follow this great idea, we’ll give it a try next year!

“Instead of using nasty chemicals to rid your garden of harmful weeds try using boiling water. This is particularly effective for use on weeds in the cracks paths.”
We agree! Weedkiller is one of the worst possible things for the environment. This seems like a good alternative!

“recycle klix coffee machine cups from vending machines into plant pots to grow your own produce”
If there is no plastic coffee cup recycling in sight, a good alternative to just throwing them away. These are nice for cress, too!

“Cut about a quarter off the top of used plastic bottles, larger ones work better. Stand your bottles outside when it rains to save rain water, this helps to cut down on your usage of water. Once the bottles are of no use simply recycle them.”
We love this idea of mini water butts! You can put them next to pots to just tip the water in. Nice idea!

“Plant plenty of beautiful flowers in the garden and let a patch of grass grow wild – there’s a bee shortage and I couldn’t bee-r to bee without honey!!”
We couldn’t either! Bee- good and follow this wonderful tip, it’s so easy to make a wild corner in your garden to let grass and plants grow wild, bees and butterflies will love it!