Gardeners are incredible! They never let anything go to waste and they are amazing recyclers.
A gardener reuses their pots that they brought home from the garden centre to grow new seedlings in, to put upside down over sticks to scare off the birds or to lay on the ground to collect those pesky snails that keep eating the vegies.
Gardeners also collect all of the scraps from the kitchen and leaves from the garden, throw them on the compost heap or the worm farm and let them rot down so that they can add it back into the garden. They even use old car tyres as garden beds and foam vegie boxes for raising seedlings.
Just last week in Victoria, I saw these very clever ideas at some wonderful community gardens in Williamstown and St Kilda.
Ping pong balls used as caps on bamboo stakes. Stakes like these can be dangerous in the garden as they can poke people in the eye or scratch their skin when they are bending over to look after the garden. To do this at home, ask mum or dad to poke a small hole into a ping pong ball and push it firmly over the top of the stakes.
Raised garden bed made from old screen doors. Security screen doors like these are strong and robust and can easily be wired together to form a square planting frame. Line the sides with black plastic and then prepare the garden bed with lots of healthy soil before planting. CLICK HERE to find out more about building a raised garden bed.
Plant protecting baskets. If you have chooks or ducks that want to feed on your vegies before you do, this is a really simple way to protect them. Old bike baskets, wire shopping baskets or hanging baskets would do the trick. They just need to let the sun and water in but keep the birds out!
Do you have any clever ideas that you would like to share with Smarty Plants? We would love to share them with everyone. Meanwhile, stop in at your local community garden; you will be amazed at what you will learn and see.
Happy gardening!