The month of November in Singapore coincides with the Clean and Green Singapore, which is an event that aims to inspire Singaporeans to care for and protect our living environment by adopting an environmentally-friendly lifestyle. In HortPark, my colleagues and I present a showcase at the Lifestyle Corner that shares some ideas and tips on how one do likewise at home.
To begin with something most of us are familiar with, what do a paper carton, a tin can and a plastic cup have in common? Well, they can all be used as plant pots! Common unwanted household items creatively transformed into useful gardening containers…
If you do a lot of take-aways in Singapore, don’t junk the plastic disposable food container! You can turn them into containers for germinating seeds, raising cuttings or even use them to make a self-watering container! All you need to do is to cut a hole in the lid that fits the plant pot you want to put in. Put in a cotton string that acts as a wick through the bottom of the pot and you are more or less done! Have a small reservoir of water at the base of the disposable food container that will supply your plant with water while you are away or busy with work. Water is drawn to the plant via capillary action!
This third idea is something I shared previously – the recycling of eggshells and eggtrays. Use eggshells as your planting pots and when you are ready to transplant your plant, all you need is to crush the eggshell and bury it into the planting hole! Plastic egg trays can be used as seed germinating trays too but paper ones are better! You can cut out each cell in a paper eggtray and plant the entire thing into the final growing location. Works something like the peat pot! Remember – eggshells add valuable calcium to the soil and you can grind eggshells into a fine powder and add that to your compost heap or soil which you grow your plants.
