10 Clever Hacks for Plastic Bottles in the Garden💡💡💡💡💡💡💡💡💡💡

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Do you hate throwing away perfectly good plastic  bottles? Well so do I. Hi, I'm Ben, and in this video   I'm going to share with you 10 ingenious ideas  for transforming these from unwanted waste into   a treasured resource for your garden. We're getting into the warmer, drier days of summer here so what   better place to start than keeping our plants  sufficiently watered. Start by cutting off the   bottom of a plastic bottle, then poke or drill  holes into either the cap or neck of the bottle.   Bury the bottle upside down close  to a plant so that the holes lie   about 4 inches or 10 centimetres below the surface.   This makes watering so much easier because all you  have to do is fill up the bottle, then move on to   the next plant, and if it's drained through by the  time you're done you can always go back, fill it up   again, to give the soil a really good drenching.  I especially love this technique around thirsty,   warm-season crops like tomatoes and squash, which  love having all that moisture at their roots.   You can also slow down the rate at which the water  drains through by not drilling holes into the   bottle, and instead stuffing a tight-fitting piece  of sponge into the neck of the bottle like this. Even with a rose fitted, the spray from  watering cans can sometimes be a little too fast   for just-sown seeds or delicate seedlings. Water  bottle watering cans are a gentler alternative.   Just pierce holes into the lid of an empty drinks  bottle like this. You want to aim for a nice   even distribution, and because  you don't want the holes too big   I'm using a thumb tack or drawing pin to make  the holes. Push the pin in at 90 degrees so that   the water comes out nice and straight and doesn't  fly off at different angles. And there you have it. Bottles make fantastic miniature greenhouses  to keep recently transplanted seedlings safe   from plunging temperatures and harsh winds,  ideal for acclimatizing them to the outdoors   or getting a jump start on the new growing  season. They'll also keep birds off. Simply cut   off the bottom of a clear bottle, label removed,  and pop it over your seedlings or young plants.  Narrow bottles are great for protecting individual  plants, and you can always keep them from blowing   away by just pushing them down into the soil. Or,  for a belts-and-braces approach, use a cane like   this through the middle and push it down into the  soil, and that really will anchor it into position.   Larger bottles like five liter size would  be ideal for clusters of seedlings, or even   larger bottles like water dispenser bottles would  give you even more options. Whatever you're using,   leave the lid off for ventilation unless  it's exceptionally cold. You can make very   effective tools using sturdy plastic bottles. Use  a bottle with a handle, such as this milk bottle,   to make an all-purpose scoop. Mark out a diagonal  line on both sides of the bottle like this,   so that the top comes within about an  inch or three centimeters of the handle. Now draw a line to connect  up the two diagonal lines,   one at the top and then one  along the bottom like this. And then simply cut it out. And there you have your scoop! You could also cut a gouge out of the bottom  of a bottle like this, then mount it securely   onto a cane or pole. The result is a very basic  but no less effective fruit picker, ideal for   extending your reach to nab those high up fruits.  Of course, like any other recyclable container   plastic bottles make handy little containers. Cut  them in half, then drill drainage holes into the   bottom half before filling with potting mix and  planting. You could use the top half too of course,   piercing holes into the cap for drainage then  perhaps securing your bottle planter to a post,   fence, wall or trellis to make a quirky feature in  its own right. How about a self-watering container?   You'll need a bottle that's relatively tall  like this, and then start by cutting it in half. There we go. Now we need to make a hole in the  lid, and to do that i'm going to use a screwdriver   that I'm first heating up with a candle  so it more easily penetrates the cap. Next we need some sort of  wick - cotton is best for this. And you can use a piece of cotton rope or  string, or an old cotton t-shirt for example.   I'm using an old sock, and I'm going to cut  it into a length that I can feed into the   top part and that will dangle down into the  bottom of the pot, as you'll see in a moment. Right, there we go. That's going to  serve as our wick, and it's going to   take up water from our reservoir down  here into our little planter here. First   I'm going to tie a knot into it to hold it in  place once it's threaded through into the pot.   That should do it. And now I've got to  thread it through so it dangles down. There we go. All I've got to do now is plant it up.   And then time to fill our reservoir.  You want it to come just below the cap. Be sure to top up the reservoir from time to time,  and the cotton wick will keep the potting mix   above consistently damp, and your plant happy. You  can make seed or growing trays from bottles - and   mushroom or grape punnets too of course. Either cut  them right down like this to make a shallow tray,   not forgetting to pierce those all important  drainage holes into the bottom, or slice open a   two liter drinks bottle vertically like this, again  piercing holes along the bottom. Fill with soil,   sow, and grow. And all those bits of plastic  you've got left over? Don't waste those either.   Cut them down into strips like this to use as  plant labels. Write on them using a marker pen   and then, when you're done, just wipe them clean  or leave them out in the sun to bleach clean, and   that way you can reuse them. And finally,  if you've got loads of plastic bottles   you could even try making something like this - a  plastic bottle greenhouse. You'll need hundreds,   possibly even thousands of bottles for this, so  start collecting them now, and press friends and   family into collecting them as well. Nut whatever  you do, don't go out and buy bottles for this!   Now, basically the way it's done  is to thread bottomless bottles   onto garden stakes or canes like this so  that they snugly fit on top of each other. Each run of canes can then be secured to a wooden  frame to make each panel - that's roof panels, side   panels, and of course the door. The panels, once  complete, can then be secured to each other   using brackets or hinges. Now it's going to take  a bit of time, but what an original, imaginative,   and eco-friendly way to make a greenhouse! I  don't think I'll look at plastic bottles in   the same way again. Perhaps you've got an idea that  hasn't been mentioned. I'd love to know, so please   do share it in the comments below. There's loads  more handy advice on this channel, so hit that   subscribe button and ding that notification bell  so you don't miss out. And if you're interested in   more ways to recycle and repurpose in the garden,  check out this playlist. I'll catch you next time.
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Channel: GrowVeg
Views: 325,682
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Id: LpnFo-2iTMA
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Length: 8min 54sec (534 seconds)
Published: Fri Jun 25 2021
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