At its heart, gardening is rooted in sustainability, from growing your own food to enhancing the local ecosystem. Most gardeners are used to finding thrifty solutions to dilemmas, patching things up with what’s lying around. But there’s always room to find new ways to make your garden greener. With that in mind, here are our tips for recycling in the garden.

recycling in the garden corks

1 – Corks

Break up old corks and use them to help drainage in plant pots. What better way to justify your drinking habit?

2 – Plastic bottles

Cut the ends off plastic drinks bottles and use them as cloches to protect your tender plants. Bottles come in plenty of sizes to fit all your flora.

3 – CDs

A classic grandmother’s trick! Hang up old CDs around your vegetable patch, so the reflecting sunlight will scare off birds.

fish tank

4 – Fish tank water

If you have an aquarium, save the water when you’re cleaning it out. It’s full of nutrients, so perfect for watering your plants.

5 – Compost bags

When you’ve emptied out a fresh load of compost, don’t throw away the bag! Reuse it as a sturdy container for transporting debris around the garden.

egg boxes

6 – Egg boxes

As well as being compostable, egg boxes are the perfect containers for chitting potatoes. Simply pop your potatoes in with the eyes upright.

7 – Lollipop sticks

Forget what you’ve planted where? Take a Sharpie to your used lollipop sticks and give them new life as plant markers.

8 – Windows

If you’re about to throw out unwanted window panes, consider repurposing them as lids for homemade cold frames.

recycling cardboard

9 – Cardboard

Delivery boxes, kids’ art projects… any bit of old cardboard will do for recycling. They make great insulation for plants or even compost.

10 – Tyres

The classic upcycling project – turn worn out car tyres into planters by stacking them up and filling with soil. Paint them for a colourful touch.

11 – Toilet roll tubes

These little cardboard tubes are perfect for seeding vegetables like carrots and peas. Fill and when they’re ready, transplant the tube into the ground, where it will gradually decompose.

seedlings in tubes

Hopefully these ideas will help you see what you can reuse, reduce and recycle in your garden. If you have any tips for the green-fingered community, let us know!

George at PrimroseGeorge works in the Primrose marketing team. As a lover of all things filmic, he also gets involved with our TV ads and web videos.

George’s idea of the perfect time in the garden is a long afternoon sitting in the shade with a good book. A cool breeze, peace and quiet… But of course, he’s usually disturbed by his energetic wire fox terrier, Poppy!

He writes about his misadventures in repotting plants and new discoveries about cat repellers.

See all of George’s posts.