13 Amazing Things To Do With Wine Bottles In The Garden

This blog is brought to you by: Homemade Home Ideas

Going green doesn’t mean you have to take everything to the recycling center, it can also mean using the materials you have. So why not salvage your glass bottles and transform them into useful and beautiful additions to your garden?

With ideas from helping you water your plants to creating original and stunning features, this list has everything and anyone can make these amazing crafts.

Votive Lanterns - These easy to make lanterns will look stunning throughout your garden creating a magical ambiance that will light up the night.

 

Garden Border – Separate your lawn from your borders with this ingenious upcycle which will add a quirky character to your yard whilst looking fantastic.

Guiding Path Lights – With a few bottles and a string of lights find out how you can transform the ordinary into extraordinary.

Self Watering Planter – With full step by step photography you’ll be able to create your own planters which you don’t even have to water. Perfect for seedlings and plants alike.

Water Fountain – You don’t have to spend a fortune when making your own fountain. With upcycled materials and this amazing tutorial you’ll have your very own wine bottle water fountain.

 

Bottle Wind Chime – Create this elegant wind chime to make a naturally occurring melody which will help you relax in peace.

Bird Feeder - This beautiful year round feeder makes a stunning addition to any garden. Not only is this a completely original DIY it’s an excellent way to re-purpose empty bottles.

Garden Ornaments – Give your flower beds different levels and colors using just a few empty wine bottles and create something just as visually appealing as the flowers you grow.

Tiki Torches – Strong and powerful this light will shine bright any time of night or day and has the added bonus of providing heat too so when the sun goes in you don’t have to.

DIY Hot Bed – Using bottles you can make a hot bed which will use the suns heat so you can grow plants which normally suit a warmer environment.

Sun Catcher – These simple and beautiful works of art will add an original and unique feature to your garden.

Hummingbird Feeder – Looking to attract more wildlife to your garden? Then this decorative and functioning feeder is a must build for every savvy crafter and keen gardener.

Wine Bottle Drip Feeder - Now you don’t even have to water your plants every day to make sure they grow, instead you can create your own drip feeder.

22 Unbelievably Clever Gardening Cheats

This blog is brought to you by: Homemade Home Ideas

Everyone loves a good cheat and this article reveals 22 of the best achieving a beautiful, productive garden with the minimum of effort.

We reveal a clever trick to get the sweetest tomatoes ever, a simple idea to achieve the most beautiful blooming roses possible, a number of cheats to get free gardening supplies and so much more!

Use A Flower Pot With Builders Sand To Avoid Rusty Tools – Simply follow this one rule to make sure your tools stay rust free.

Plant These & Keep Your Garden Mosquito Free – These plants, herbs and flowers look beautiful and smell amazing, but mosquitoes hate them! Plant them around your garden or on your patio in containers and enjoy a mosquito free summer!

Buy These Foods Once & Regrow Them Forever – Onions, carrots, celery, sweet potatoes and leeks are just some of the foods you can regrow from the scraps you’d normally throw away.

Fertilize Your Plants With Milk – This may sound crazy, but check out the compelling reasons behind it!

 

Make Your Tomatoes Extra Sweet With Baking Soda – Follow this tutorial and you will have the sweetest tomatoes on the block.

 

Grow Wheat Grass In An Egg Shell – Don’t throw these useful ready made planters in the bin, check out what to do with them instead.


Get Rid Of Blossom Rot With Coffee Grounds & Eggshells – With two simple ingredients you can get rid of blossom rot easily and completely free.

Make Free Garden Tools Using Milk Bottles – Make use out of old milk cartons and make useful tools instead, whilst saving a fortune!

Starts Seeds With A Lemon Peel - This is an excellent way to start seedlings off in a great environment.

Grow Herbs For Free From Cuttings – You can propogate many herbs from cuttings – including basil, thyme, mint, oregano, lavender, lemon balm, rosemary, sage and many more.

Water Plants Remotely – When on holiday, make sure your plants get the water they need using only paper towels.

Grow 100 lbs Of Potatoes In 4 Square Feet - You don’t need a lot of space to grow an abundant supply of potatoes. This clever method yields up to 100 lbs of potatoes in only four square feet.

Get Superpowered Garden Soil – Follow this simple process and get “superpowered” garden soil capable of growing anything.
 

“The Best Planting Tip I Ever Received” - This simple trick makes “root bound” container plants a thing of the past and will enable you to grow healthy container plants without any issues.  

Grow Roses In Potatoes - This is a great idea for propagating roses from cuttings by placing them into potatoes. The potatoes keep the cuttings moist as the roots develop meaning healthier growing roses.

Get Free Gardening Supplies – These tips will help you to get mulch, compost, seeds, plant cuttings, seed starting containers, bamboo, pallets and tools for free!

Grow A Ton Of Organic Strawberries – This simple tip will enable you to grow the healthiest strawberry plants possible and have an endless supply of sweet, delicious organic strawberries.

Drip Feed Your Vegetables With A Soda Bottle – This tip enables you to slowly water your vegetables right at the root rather than from above. It avoids some leaf problems (from veggies that don’t like water from above) and means the water gets exactly where it needs to!

Prevent Algae In Your Bird Bath For Just $0.07 – If you have a bird bath then this is an invaluable cheat to prevent algae growth. It costs just $0.07 and works every time!

How To Get The Best Roses Ever – Make your roses bloom bigger, healthier and more beautiful than ever using two ingredients you have lurking in your kitchen: banana peels and coffee grounds.

Attract Beautiful Butterflies With This Butterfly Feeder - There’s nothing better than watching butterflies flutter around your garden in summer and with this super simple butterfly feeder recipe you’ll be able to make that dream a reality.

Attract Hummingbirds With This Recipe – If you’d like to attract hummingbirds to your garden, then make this food and watch as they flock to your backyard.

How to get Super powered Garden Soil

This blog is brought to you by: Weed Em & Reap

Ya’ know what makes me happy?

Dirt.

I’m not talkin’ about crappy dirt on the side of the road, I’m talkin’ about real, dark, rich & moist dirt. The kind you can dig your fingers into. The kind that when you kneel on it, feels soft and squishy.
Know what I’m talkin’ about?

Well, if you don’t know what I’m talkin’ about, or you’ve never experienced fabulous dirt, then you’ve come to the right place. Today, I’m going to show you how to get SUPER POWERED garden soil. One that makes it impossible for you to fail at gardening.

Know that brown thumb you’re always complainin’ about? No more, my little grasshopper!

Determining your Soil’s Super power Capabilities

The first thing you must do is find out what kind of soil you have to work with.

Is it sandy? Is it clay? Is it silt?

Here’s how you find out:

I’ll wait here while you determine your soil type.
**Cue elevator music for 24 hours**

Now that you’ve figured out what type of soil you have, let’s go over what all that means:

Sandy soil is easily penetrated by oxygen and water, but because of the large particles, it allows it to drain too quickly, taking away water and your precious organic fertilizer.

Clay soil is opposite of our sandy soil. It’s particles are too small, which won’t let oxygen and water in very well. While it usually has more nutrients, it holds water in too long, which can create a buildup of salt deposits, causing your plants to die.

Silt is a perfect combination of particles allowing for proper watering and proper draining. Goldilocks would probably prefer it because it’s “just right”. Although, if I can give you some advice, don’t tell Goldilocks about your garden. That girl is a rotten little thief.

Getting your Garden Soil “just right”

You may think if your soil is Sandy, to just add Clay soil, and vice versa if you have Clay soil, but actually this doesn’t work well at all. The layers don’t mix well and after some watering, you’ll have the layers separate again. (Just like in your test jar)

To turn your Clay soil into SUPER POWERED Soil, add…

• For loosening up your clay soil, I’d recommend using Cocopeat, Sphagnum Moss, or Gypsum. Each of these would work well for loosening up your clay soil and allowing for oxygen and water to get through. Work in about 1 cu ft bag for about every 10 sq. feet of garden space. Gypsum is the cheapest option, at only about $2-3 a bag. Even if you can’t afford to meet the recommendations, just remember that anything is better than nothing.

• Organic material is a MUST for gardening. Not only does it feed your plants with necessary Nitrogen, it also provides food the microorganisms in the dirt. The absolute BEST organic material comes easily and is usually free. Yes, folks, I’m talking about POOP. WELL-AGED & COMPOSTED Chicken manure, goat manure, sheep manure, horse manure, cow manure, are all great providers of natural Nitrogen and supply plenty of organisms as well. BONUS points if you can score poop from an animal who has been fed organic feed/grass. Well-aged manure is a must. Fresh manure has too high levels of Nitrogen, which will chemically BURN up your garden, even if it’s cool outside. It will take a couple months for fresh poop to be able to break down enough to not cause harm to your garden. Then after that you can add about 6 inches on top and till it in well.

• Tilling can be done by shovel, but I’d recommend renting a tiller for a couple hours. It should cost you only about $30-40, but it’s well worth the cost in my opinion.

To turn your Sandy soil into SUPER POWERED Soil add…

• Make a 3 to 1 mixture of Peat & Vermiculite, and add about 2 inches to your garden, and till in well.
• Add about another 4 inches organic material (compost or manure).

If your soil is Silt, congratulations! You have the soil that everybody is jealous of! At this point you can simply add some organic material. Lay about 3 inches on top, then till it in well.

Avoiding Newbie Mistakes

• Don’t add a lot of high-carbon material (straw, leaves, wood chips and sawdust). The microorganisms will eat too much nitrogen and in the end they will starve your plants of nitrogen.
• Never till while wet. It will destroy the structure of the garden and compact it harder when it dries.
• Rototilling the soil is a must. If you just drop it on top, you are inevitably causing an layer that will cause slow drainage.

What about Lasagna Gardening?

Lasagna gardening is definitely a good option for those who want to try raised beds to garden in or plan on having a series of smaller gardens. If you’re looking to avoid back labor, setting up a lasagna garden isn’t totally labor-free. If you can set up a lasagna garden ahead of time, the PROS are you can produce some amazing soil.

One CON with lasagna gardening is because they break down slowly, you may have an increase in pests, particularly slugs. Also, if you have particularly sandy soil, you may find that because your foundation is sandy, your garden will wash away in heavy rains.

The final KEY to getting SUPER POWERED Soil!

One of the most important things you must remember about gardening & soil, is that in order to have rich, green, vibrant plants, you must have vibrant & alive soil. Don’t forget about those microorganisms in the soil. If you are watering your garden with chlorinated, sterilized water, you’ll stamp out those precious microorganisms. Don’t worry, I’m not telling you to dig a well and draw water everyday for your garden. All you need is a water filter. Since my water IS chlorinated, I simply added a garden hose filter to my watering system and that’s it!