There’s something about shiny new tools that always seem as if they’ll make gardening chores easier. While it’s true that the right tool makes the job easier, you don’t really need any of that fancy stuff. Recycling and inventing new uses for kitchen items that are no longer usable indoors can be more productive and certainly less expensive. All of these “new” tools will not only ease your gardening chores for many years, you’ll be thrilled at finding new uses for what might have been discarded. Here are eight ways to get started.
1. Use pint-size plastic mesh berry or cherry tomato baskets to start seeds indoors. Cucurbits—cucumbers, melons, squash—and other plants that don’t like to be transplanted do especially well with this method. Line the baskets with one or two thicknesses of newspaper or paper towel, fill them with potting mix, and sow three seeds in each. Snip the two weaker ones as they grow in. When the weather outside is warm, plant the entire baskets, making sure the soil is mounded over the plastic and the newspaper. There’ll be no transplant shock, and the roots will grow through the decaying paper and mesh into surrounding fertilized soil. At the end of the season, lift, clean, and store the baskets for future use.
2. An old fork or spoon will separate and lift seedlings gently from flats, and the handle—or a pencil or ice cream stick—can be used to ease transplants from individual growing pockets in segmented flats, all without damaging tender roots.
3. Slip half-gallon milk cartons with the tops and bottoms cut off over celery plants to blanch them as they grow.
4. Use plastic mesh baskets from cherry tomatoes or strawberries to protect newly sprouted seedlings such as corn, cucumber, melons and squash from birds. By the time the seedlings are tall enough to reach through the tops of the baskets, they are no longer as tender and delectable as the birds prefer.
5. Use plastic or metal cans to support melons and squash as they mature. These supports will keep the fruits above the soil surface so they are out of range of many soil-borne insects and diseases.
6. Metal cans under melons concentrate the sun’s warmth and transfer it to the maturing fruit, resulting in sweeter melons ripening earlier in the season.
7. Save sets of jars for sorting and storing seeds you’ve collected. Use the same type of jar for each type of seed for quick sorting. Choose the jar size to match the quantity of seeds you have. Place them together on a shelf for quick, at-a-glance recognition and easy retrieval.
8. Use a lightweight plastic garbage can to haul around the yard when weeding or pruning. Periodically empty its contents into central disposal cans, and continue collecting. You won’t strain yourself carting around a heavy container, and this saved energy can go into further gardening.
—Yvonne Savio
