Ways to recycle household items in your shed

Reuse everyday things to reduce waste and save money in your greenhouse and garden shed.

I am always looking for ways to make use of items that would otherwise end up in the recycling bin, or worse, in a landfill. Giving your “rubbish” another purpose also saves you money and offers handy solutions for shed storage, seed-sowing and growing.

Below I have listed some of the things I reuse in my potting shed, to give you some ideas for how you can reduce, recycle and reuse in your own garden.

Recycle -

Clear, plastic fruit and veg containers -

• Turn trays upside down over small pots or seed trays to create a mini-greenhouse for germinating seeds you have sown.

• Stack trays of the same size on top of each other and store different seeds in each layer. Place inside a box/dark place to prevent the seeds from becoming unviable.

Coffee tins with plastic lids -

• Store seeds, labels, twine etc. inside the tins. Add labels to make it easy to identify their contents. 

• Turn the lids upside down and use them as drip saucers for tiny plant pots.

• Poke a hole in the plastic lid of the tin to make a garden string holder. Place your ball of string in the tin and thread the end of the string through the hole in the lid. Hey presto...easy string dispensing!

Fruit and veg trays -

• Use wooden fruit trays to store pots, hand tools and other garden sundries.

• Collect plant cuttings from around your garden and houseplant collection in a wooden tray. Propagate and plant them straight away, or leave succulent cuttings in them to callous over until they’re ready for planting.

Empty food tins -

• Store taller, larger items like large plant markers, netting pegs and short lengths of cane in big food tins.

• Drill or poke holes into the base of pretty tins to use them as small plant pots for succulents, seedlings and small alpines. Make sure you add adequate drainage holes - add a layer of grit to help with this.

• Store plant labels, small tools, snips and scissors in empty tins on your shelves or inside cupboards. Paint plain tin cans in different coloured chalk paint to add a pop of colour to your shed decor!

Glass jars -

• Store seeds, ties, wire etc. inside the closed jars with lids. Add labels to mark the contents inside. If storing seeds, make sure the jars are completely dry before using them and use the seeds quickly, before light prevents them from germinating.

Egg boxes and trays -

• Use the concave sections of cardboard egg boxes to sort different seeds into, ready for sowing the same day.

• Start seeds off by sowing an individual seed into each of the egg carton compartments. Once the seeds have germinated and the seedling is large enough to be transferred, cut out the individual cup, and plant directly in your garden (without removing the plant from the egg box). The paper egg carton will naturally break down over time.

• Sturdy, plastic egg trays can be used to house small plant pots. Place a pot into each space when sowing seeds to create a DIY seed tray with individual cells. If you use biodegradable, paper pots, these can be planted directly into the ground (you could make these from toilet rolls, newspaper, your cardboard egg boxes or use eggshells - see below).

Floor cleaner bottles -

• Repurpose a floor cleaner bottle to use as a watering can. Rinse and clean it thoroughly once it’s empty and fill it with water. The nozzle gives a fine spray of water which makes it ideal for watering seeds, small seedlings and tiny succulents.

Chocolate boxes and biscuit tins -

• Empty confectionary containers with lids are useful for storing seed packets and general garden sundries. If your box is clear plastic, and your seeds are not store-bought ones in paper packets, store the container in a dark place in the shed.

Reuse -

Colanders, sieves and strainers -

• The holes in colanders make them excellent for use as a planter. They require a drip tray/saucer to catch water if you will be planting it up with a houseplant or bringing it indoors.

• Sieve compost using an old kitchen colander or sieve as a garden compost sifter. Compost sieves help to aerate the soil and improve drainage and are good at creating a fine tilth for seed sowing.

Cutlery etc. -

• Reuse old, damaged or unwanted kitchen cutlery.

• Use an old fork to “fluff up” the surface of the soil in containers and prevent a crust from forming on its surface. This allows water to get to the roots and keeps them looking nice.

• Forks can be used for light weeding, particularly around small plants and in planters.

• Use an old spoon to top-dress alpines and succulents with horticultural grit or crushed shells.

• Keep old cutlery on hand for mixing fertilisers, feeds and organic pesticides.

• Use the handle of rounded cutlery as a makeshift dibber.

• Used, wooden skewers from shop-bought foods (e.g. prawn skewers and satay chicken) can be washed and written on for dinky plant markers.

• Old kitchen knives and scissors can be useful in the shed for taking cuttings, opening packets and snipping string.

• Reuse polycarbonate sheets from old, damaged cold frames and greenhouses as seed tray “lids”. Place the plastic sheets over trays of sown seeds - it will increase heat to improve seed germination and help to keep the compost moist. Offcuts from other garden projects can also be used.

Eggshells -

• Crush eggshells into pieces and spread around plants to deter slugs. Store them in an airtight container until needed (ensure it is thoroughly dry before using).

• Pierce a hole in the bottom of half eggshells to use them as seedling pots. Store them in your recycled egg boxes to keep them upright and plant directly in the garden when the plants are large enough.

• Add ground eggshells to soil to improve the soil’s aeration and drainage, and reduce its pH.

• Use crushed shells as a to-dressing when potting up succulents.

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I would love to know what you give extra life to in your shed or greenhouse, and how you reuse or recycle it. Please tell me in the comments below.

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