Still using limited data on my phone.
In my region of the US, clay planting pots sometimes fracture in winter, leaving me with small piles of shards. I hate to just throw these bits away. Instead, I use the shards as mulch around the base of potted Mediterranean plants to hold moisture in the soil over the dry summers, without adding to the risk of fungus or rot.
Like lavender plants, rosemary benefits from a rock-type mulch (as opposed to wood chip or compost mulch). As I showed you a week ago, I used a marble chip mulch around the base of my lavender plants. In a similar approach, I use the clay pot shards around the base of rosemary plants.
I have 2 baby rosemary plants new this season. This morning I broke apart a bunch of clay shards to mulch the top surface of the soil in these planters. Small pieces went directly onto the soil. I broke up the larger chunks with a hammer on cardboard.
I think this is not only practical, but also an attractive look for my rosemary.
Broken and unrepairable items can be given new use with a little imagination. Up-cycling clay pot shards into planter mulch keeps those broken pieces out the landfill.
What’s been your favorite up-cycle?
That looks pretty! Great idea.
ReplyDeleteI spray painted my metal headboard a few years ago. The previous finish was very faded, and I had a can of oil-rubbed bronze paint. It made a huge improvement. My sister asked where I got my antique headboard from, which made me laugh. The headboard was old enough to look dated-old, not cool-old. :)
That's a good idea. I planted rosemary in a pot last year with no mulch and overwintered it in the garage. I'll add some non-organic mulch to it this summer, although I don't think I have any broken clay pots. My father -in-law is the king of upcycling. So many examples, but the first one that comes to mind is a smoker he made for us from our old water pressure tank.
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