Homeschool Garden Club - Recycling to Keep The Costs Down

Because homeschooling is funded by your family and not by the state money is a key issue. So everything we can do to save money is a good thing. Recycling is also a very important task to save resources not just money. Here are a few ways we at the Homeschool Garden Club can help save both.

Make your own compost: this is one of the best ways to save money in the garden. if you join the Orchard Training Homeschool Garden Club you will learn how to make this, how to turn it and use it. we recycle spent compost bags through the compost bins but this year we are trying not to buy as much garden compost bags. we have been trying the peat free compost but have mixed results.

Bottles: Although our work on the environment and lessons on plastic particular single use plastic have been very effect with many of you now not buying fizzy drinks, drinking water from the tap and taking a flask with you. We can still find a use for the odd bottle we do have to buy. they are very good at make mini cloches around plants that need protection.

Plant Labels: Now we have tried very hard to reuse the lollipop sticks for plant labels and we have found that they rot away and don't work so well. We found the plastic from the yogurt pots are much sturdier and can we used time after time.

Compostable Plant Pots: Again we have tried with the toilet rolls but because we are learning and not yet full trained in the watering, we have found if we do it right the sweet peas, sweetcorn, runner beans do get in to the ground before the mould sets in. If we get the watering wrong they just rot off. We have, as a group, voted for reusing the plastic pots we already have until they can no longer be used. We have agreed a rota every week, so nobody gets to wash all the pots, all the time.

Recycling the Plastic pots- reuse all of your old plant pots. If you need more ask your study buddies if they have some and ask other members of the Orchard Training Homeschool Garden Club. Not every one will have space to grow from seed so will be buying plug plants, those posts are a lovely size for planting on.

Old Tyres - we tried this as a project - in the end we didn't like the look. The plants did better dug in to the ground. So some of the driving teenagers helped me take them down to the recycling centre and we redesigned the area.

Egg cartons - are great for chitting seed potatoes. However, most of the egg cartons are recycled via the compost bin.

Pallets - We have one learner who works in a placement where pallets are plentiful and we have been able to make raised bed and bird boxes from these. We have found that they also make really good spacers when we mark them up with measurements, so we know have far apart to plant.