Gardening expert and Instagram star Joseph Clark has shared another useful gardeninh tip that means people can avoid simply throwing out their old cardboard boxes
One expert gardener has revealed a brilliant way Brits can reuse their old cardboard boxes to make fresh new plant pots.
Instagram user Joseph Clark showed off a handy system using only an old box, some water and a tin can. The pots could even be decorated to fit any colour scheme you might want in your garden, or even the plants themselves. “It takes about five minutes to do and honestly couldn’t be easier,” Joseph explained. “Just soak your cardboard for about 10 minutes, then trim it into strips about 13 cm wide, and roll using a jar or tin. It’s a good idea to remove any paper labels as these will stick to the wet cardboard.
Start by removing all of the plastic from the box, before soaking it all in a bucket of water for 10 minutes. Take it out and trim it into strips you can wrap around a tin can while the cardboard is still damp. Make sure to wrap it around the bottom of the can and push it down hard, before placing an elastic band to hold it all in place. Leave it somewhere nice and warm to dry, Joseph said, and soon you will have some perfectly shaped eco friendly plant pots for you to fill with your plant of choice.
The process is really useful for repurposing the cardboard boxes you receive that you would otherwise just throw away. Joseph said: “Let them dry, and once completely dry they will form extremely solid little planting pots. I think the strength of these pots may surprise you! Just be careful not to over water your seeds, as this can cause them to break apart.
“Plant them out whole, and not only will this help avoid disturbing the roots, it will help strengthen your soil as cardboard is a vital ingredient in compost” It isn’t the only tip Joseph has shared with his over 880,000 followers on Instagram. He has also shared a nice trick for people to reuse their plastic bottles and turn them into hanging planters. Start by cutting off the top of a bottle with a pair of scissors. This should be done from below the area where the bottle stops sloping out to its full width.
Once you have cut off the top, make four holes spaced equally apart around the bottle on the upper section of what is now the cut away bottom part of the bottle. Use the hot fork to do this. You can use these holes to rig up the pot with some twine and hang it in your garden if you choose. With the top half, make sure to keep the cap on and put in a hole in the middle. This hole is for the twine to be pulled through and help with rigging up the plant.
Make further holes in the top section of the bottle to ensure drainage, before turning it upside down and placing it inside the lower half of the bottle. All you have to do after those steps is to put your compost and chosen plant inside it. “These zero waste bottle planters are not only a fun way to use old bottles to prevent them going to waste, but they are actually very practical,” Joseph said in a video in August. “One of the easiest ways to kill your plants is to over water them. This is when the roots are sat in water for a prolonged period of time.”
