Reuse, reduce, repot

I found my dill growing again this year! It was such a sweet surprise! Welcome old friend! I grow dill in a repurposed plastic trash can (the bathroom kind) filled about halfway with soil. I find it a perfect spot since dill grows so tall. It is better protected from the wind, and the summer sun. I just drilled holes in the bottom, and presto! The perfect dill pot!

Nice pots are too expensive for me. If I grew one or two plants in a season then the price would merit it, but growing 50 plants… the price adds up! What’s a girl to do?

Last year I used an old recycling bin to grow plants for Plant a Row for the Hungry (an awesome program by the way, and deserving of a separate post one of these days). Again, as with the trash can, I simply drilled holes in the bottom for drainage.

Notice the red rectangle recycling bin in the background, and the lavender container in the foreground. Photo from 06/2011

I also grew cucumber seeds in these halloween decorations. I didn’t use them for growing this year since it proved a little uncomfortable for transplanting. Keep this in mind with containers that are oddly shaped and narrow. They are now my toddler’s “pots” where I let him play with soil.

This year I’m growing Redina Lettuce in this .50 cent tin from the thrift store. It seems too frail to drill holes through, so instead I placed rocks in the bottom to help the soil drain through.

Redina Lettuce in a red tin thrift store find

The thrift store is the best place to find inexpensive pots (if you go before the growing season starts!). Sometimes they have really nice terracotta ones for a few bucks, or they have other type of bowls or trash cans, or vases that can be repurposed in less than five minutes! I also save all those plastic pots that come with new plants and I reuse them for the in-between transplanting of plants.

I have been meaning to go above and beyond and put some effort into decorating these odd items turned pots, but it always remains in my to-do list unchecked. Maybe this will be the year I actually get to it… maybe I’ll let my toddler play with paints…