Small Space Gardening: Reusing Empty Boxes, Containers and Soda Bottles
With the weather getting warmer, all our container plants are all wide awake, livelier and happy to greet Mr. Sun everyday. Last year got a little out of hand, with the chayote plant claiming all the trellis and space all for itself. But this year, I wanted to make our small patio as inviting, and pleasing to look at with all the plants on their proper places. My parents love planting vegetables, specially my mom who seems to want to germinate every seed of bitter melon, jute, and squash she had saved. I, on the other hand likes vegetables too but is more interested into flowers and I wanted to have some on the patio. But there's just not enough space in our little patio for more plants. It would be nice to see more space on the ground by having some more hanging plants. But I don't want to make a dash on the garden store and get hanging planters for my petunia flowers. I already had some hanging baskets and planters I got 2 years ago but if I could reuse stuffs, then I wouldn't want to spend more than $5 each on more hanging planters.
Reusing Empty Cracker Boxes For A Planter
On my search around the house for any reusable item I could find for a planter, I came across a three empty cracker boxes that I could use to make a hanging planter. Since it wasn't that big, I decided it's just the right spot for the thyme I had bought few days ago.
After poking a hole on the bottom for drainage, I connected all three by making about 1 1/2 hole on the center of top and middle box for the handle to get through. And it's a good thing the handles are detachable too so I detached the handles of bottom and middle box, and off it went through the hole before it was attached back. I had transplanted the thyme at the very bottom, a spinach at the middle and tried the snapdragon at the top. I wanted to see how well the snapdragon will do as I already had two snapdragons on a hanging planter and are doing well.
Plants On The Three Tiered Planter After Almost Two Months
No Wasting! Use The Unused Hook
On this small space was two chayote plants which found their place on our patio last year, 2012. Shown here are the bamboo trellis dad had made last year for one of the chayote. Since we have a small space garden, I hang the snapdragon planter from the unused hook that we had used to support the trellis.
Here is a snapdragon underneath the chayote trellis. It's been doing really well and this year, I say was a better year than last year. It still is displaying its beautiful, white snapdragon flower on an upright stalk that's almost 3 ft. long. The stalk went past through the trellis and is now towering over the creeping chayote. The flowers last for a very long time, it's been over two weeks now and still in beauty.
With the chayote, still is very active on creeping in its trellis and reaching onto anything its tendrils can reach. I already had harvested shoots more than 4 times on trying to control the many shoots.
Few days ago as I was ready to harvest again, with a scissor in hand, I was surprised to see a baby chayote as I was about to cut a shoot. As I do this hub, there's about close to 10 female flowers I found and one for soon to be twin chayotes!
More About The Chayote Plant. Is It Only The Fruit That Is Edible?
- Chayote: Photos and Health Benefits Of This Fast Growing Plant
The chayote, or also known in other names as vegetable squash, pear squash, christophene is a pear-shaped fruit with a light green, thin skin. Native to Central America or Mexico, chayote was introduced around the world, and was known in the...
Reusing Soda Bottles
And since I came across this hanging planter made from empty soda pop plastic bottles, I thought its a good way to reuse the plastic bottles. So I took three bottles of the recycles that we are saving for the recycling center.
After making holes for the drainage, I tied all three bottles to connect them and filled it up with soil. Now I am trying on growing the papait plant on them with an amaranth (kalunay) that my mom had transplanted on the very top.
More Ways To Reuse Bottles
- What To Do With Empty Plastic Bottles? 11 Brilliant Ways Of Reusing Bottles
Plastic bottles can be made into a hanging planter. But there are other ways to reuse them. Shown in this hub are 11 brilliant ways on how you can reuse those soda pop bottles you have so don't throw them away.
For a little space, anything that can be reuse has to be use. This cooler here became a planter two years ago for this chives. Also sharing the space is a tomato which happened to sprout in there from last year's.
Some young amaranth (kalunay) plant also shares the soil with the chives. With the chives, we use it on omelette, grilled fish dipping sauce and sometimes on Filipino soup sinigang.
Below, a cherry tomato on the container, now also flowering and has unripe cherry tomatoes. While on the next plant ring support perched Ozzy, a non migratory male hummingbird that keeps an eye on the three feeders. Either he spent most of the day perching here, preening himself and singing, or he perch on one of the chayote shoots of his choice. When either I or mom outside, he would be on the other side of the fence, on the neighbors side and we could hear his alarmed humming as he warned other hummers to stay away on his food source. But he can only guard the feeders on the patio, there's one hanging on the front porch too.
With some plants like the lavender on the soil along with some Thai chili, the rest are either on a pot or on the containers my dad had brought home from his work.
