Spring is a time of rebirth, of growth and there’s nothing more glorious after a long, cold, hard winter than seeing green grass reaching for the sky and little leaf buds transforming the landscape. During the winter many gardeners, myself included, get itching to see these little signs of growth – the green light for gardening.

Due to the economic times, however, I’ve not been inclined to run to the local farmers’ co-op and spend a wad of cash on my impending plantings. Though never willing to sacrifice the promise of a great garden, I’ve been finding new ways to satisfy my seedlings.

While hunkered down for the winter I noticed that my family has ingested uncountable cans and jars of sodas, soups, tuna fish, fruit cocktail – you name it. Naturally the winter munchies left us too lazy to find our way to the dump and the recycle bins have been overflowing in the front yard.

One fateful day, luckily, a little light bulb went off in my bemused mind and I started hauling all of the recyclables back into the house. I ignored the stares, the rolling eyeballs, the questions from loved ones concerned about my state of mental health and started on a new project.

Rewashing the recyclables, cutting off soda can tops, peeling off labels and lining my new treasures up like tin soldiers became my new passion. Turns out they make fantastic seed pots. And the growing frenzy began.

Soda Pop Planters

Here’s what I learned about recycling recyclables at home:

1. Sending items to be recycled elsewhere means more of the Earth’s resources are used to turn something old into something new. Reusing your items at home, however, saves more of the Earth’s resources.

2. Reusing your own recyclables means reducing your own waste and spending less time and gas hauling trash to the dump (reserving your own resources).

3. Tuna cans are the perfect size for starting herb seeds – just be wary of any sharp edges around the inner rim.

4. Soda cans are handy right-side-up or upside-down. Upright you can cut the top off, fill with dirt and put a small plant in it. Upside-down, if you pull the tab as close to shut as possible and pry open a decent-sized hole in the bottom you can make your own draining seedling pot.

5. Almost any recyclable glass, plastic or aluminum container will make a perfect seedling pot for fostering your plants until they’re ready to go into the ground.

6. They’re also great for dividing larger houseplants into several smaller plants, which you can share with friends, neighbors and teachers.

7. By putting gardening on such a small scale this becomes the perfect project for getting children involved and teaching them the value of helping the earth by reducing waste, recycling, reusing, and gardening!

photo credits: ClipArt from Microsoft Office Online
‘Soda Pop Planters’ photo is property of the author and is used with permission