Starting A Simple Recycled Container Garden

Happy Earth Month!

This year we're celebrating 2 ways. We're finally starting a little herb/vegetable garden and we're reusing some of the many Silk non-dairy milk containers we've collected over the last few months. Most of the time I simply recycle empty Silk cartons but today I want to share a super easy and practical way to reuse them instead.

What You'll Need: Empty 1.89L non-dairy milk containers, a variety of seeds, potting soil (without fertilizer), a scoop, scissors, a small amount of paper towel or toilet paper, a method for labeling germinating seeds,  and an air-tight container or large freezer bag to use as a humidity dome.

Prepare your Silk cartons. Rinse 'em with hot water, carefully cut off the tops of the cartons and then drill, poke, or cut some small-medium-sized drainage holes in the bottom.

We're germinating basil, oregano, dill, spearmint, peppers and tomatoes. Since care instructions vary, newbie gardeners like myself are probably best to sticking with just a small variety of plants to start.

Germinating the seeds:  We labelled small square dipping sauce dishes, placed them on a single tray and lined them with 1 square of folding toilet paper, emptied approx. ½ of each packet of seeds onto the toilet paper, folded and dampened the paper with approx ½ tablespoon of water, and then slid the tray into a large freezer bag (which we can reuse later!) Each day we'll check on the paper to ensure that it stays damp. The seeds should start to germinate within a few days.

Before filling prepared containers with soil, place them outside or on a garbage bag to prevent a mess. Once the seeds have germinated, dampen the soil and bury the seeds along with the paper beneath the soil (check your seed packets for the recommended depth!) Make sure to transfer the seed labels from germination to their new soil pots. Check on your plants daily, adhering to care instructions on your seed packets. Transplanting to larger containers may be needed later. Good luck! We'll be checking in with a garden update soon.

Earth Month is a great opportunity to talk about different things (big and small!) that we can do to reduce our environmental impact. I'm not much of a DIY-er or an upcycler but this little gardening project is one of the simple ways I can recycle and avoid buying plastic planters to start our little patio garden. Win-win! Besides the usual recycling we love repurposing food jars for drinking glasses, pantry storage and miscellaneous storage around the house (pencils, makeup brushes, etc.) Whenever I receive cool blogger mail I like to use nicer boxes for household storage and reuse shipping packets and boxes for sending my own parcels. Oh! And of course, being vegan (or simply reducing your intake of meat, dairy and eggs) is a great way to reduce your environmental impact! Happy Earth Month!

This post is sponsored by Silk. We love Silk for providing a delicious variety of non-dairy plant milks, from your typical soy and almond milks to cashew, coconut, and non-dairy milk blends! All opinions and text are my own.
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