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Having been in isolation since the 9th March, I feel like I've had a little bit of a head-start on passing the time indoors. As March is a good time to start off inside seedlings, I thought that a good way to pass the time, using whatever materials I had to hand.
As Goupie is always trying to look at new ways to reuse packaging waste, either from our own boxes, or elsewhere, I felt it worthwhile sharing my efforts!
You'll have to forgive the slightly unpolished look of these images, they weren't intended for public display, but in times like these, it's more important than ever to look at your waste in a different way and think: 'what could I use that for?'
As someone who's fairly new to gardening, I'm sure there's hundreds of faux pas that I'm making and will make further down the line. What I think is more important, is that I give it a go and see what works - I don't need my veg looking perfect!
My primary ambition has been to avoid purchasing virgin materials to start my allotment off with, such as seedling trays and propagators. I know that they're scientifically developed to help the process, but nature isn't always perfect, right?
So, looking through our recycling bin, I emptied it of anything I thought might be useful for growing my seedlings.
Plastic grape buckets, loo rolls, plastic bags which you get packaging clothes or electronics, old tins, you name it, it's now scattered across my office floor...
It struck me that the grape buckets would make great propagators and any shallower packaging would be great for trays to sow my seeds in.
The loo rolls, cut in half, make great seedling pots. As do takeaway espresso cups, small tins (lined with plastic) and newspaper.
The plastic clothing/electronics bags, are really good for lining your tins to avoid the rust from infiltrating the soil. They also make it easy to remove a seedling from a pot when you go to plant it on!
I'm sure there's plenty of other, more imaginative things that you guys will come up with, so please do share them! The aim of this is to get you thinking of your waste in a new way and trying to use what you have on hand.
Going to the allotment is an approved form of exercise according to Michael Gove so we look forward to seeing those gardens grow over the next few weeks! (Please do make sure you're keeping your distance from people and try to stagger your journeys so the allotments aren't crowded out - we need to be sensible here!)
Stay at home, keep your distance and stay safe <3
