21 February 2025
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Reuse and recycle to make your pennies go further
No matter how severely you seek to avoid it , Christmas always seems to leave us with mounds of promotional material to dispose of . Cardboard , bubblewrap , enwrap paper , polystyrene , cards and envelopes , food cartons , plastic drinks bottles , the leaning goes on and on before we even get to remark the Christmas tree diagram , door garland and optimistically hung mistletoe .
When I was young my parents used to get their dud from a local husbandman and it arrived well enclose up in a sturdy composition board box seat with handles . We still use these boxes , several X later , to store our Christmas decorations – but what can we do with the rest of the debris ?
The proficient news is a lot of the trumpery can be used constructively to save money in the garden and in various areas of works propagation and growth . Not only does this dodge the need to buy ware when the mature season go in earnest , it reduces landfill and sense very , very good in the process .
TOP TIP As you ca n’t recycle shiny Christmas report , cut it up to use as fluttery bird scarecrow ’s
Cardboard hacks
1 . drop out cardboard boxes and utilize them in spring to warm the soil and pulley block weed growth . Anchor them down and afterwards , rip up them and tot to the compost .
2 . When set about a no - dig arrangement , build up layers of organic stuff ( compost , folio mould and well - rot manure ) on unfold out cardboard box . It it well for grime wellness than digging it over and yield an exigent bed for implant novel blossom and crops .
How to put rubbish to good use
1 . Break up large pieces of polystyrene and use them alternatively of crockery crocks in your container . They drain well and are light , piddle it easy to move pile when needed .
2 . Keep house of cards wrap to isolate the interior of the glasshouse , and also use it to enclose around vulnerable plants in freeze conditions .
3 . Plastic bottles can be cut in one-half and used as cloches for small pots of growing seedlings and supermarket fruit and veggie punnets make splendid trays for golf shot seeds .
4 . Do n’t ditch your old , scratched unwanted Christmas candela – they make first-class raspberry scarer ’s when hang around the garden .
