Recycle Cats Pride Container Garden

I know plastic containers can be taken to the recycling center, but I love to find ways to recycle stuff myself. I started saving my Cats Pride kitty litter containers to use for my container garden. This is the first time I have decided to try a container garden. Normally we just plant in the ground like everyone else. As we have grown older it it nearly impossible for us to get up after we have gotten down to plant. I told my husband that if we put the containers along the front porch we could reach them easily for watering and picking. (The neighbors already know we are a crazy.)

First, I took the label off the Cats Pride container and then used a sharp knife to cut off the handle part. I did use a pair of scissors to cut off the high spots and "smooth" out the top.

Next, I took a really sharp three prong fork and wiggled it back and forth to make holes in the bottom of the planter. I made six holes in each one. It is important to have drain holes in the bottom of the container in case of over watering.

We found Miracle-Grow Potting soil on sale and purchased 2 bags.

(Each bag was 2 cubic foot of soil. BIG BAGS.)

By using this we will not need to fertilize the plants.

We also decided to go ahead and purchase some good looking plants we found at Ace Hardware. The pitiful little ones in the front came from Atwoods. Lesson learned.

After we had the recycled Cats Pride containers filled with soil and plants we lined them up along the front porch. We put 32 inch tomato cages in the containers, we only planted peppers and tomatoes. Atwoods only had 8 cages and Wal-Mart only had 42 inch and larger ones. Still have to find one more 32 inch one. We nearly drove the cats crazy doing all this activity on the porch...one watched out the window and the other out the door.

I also reused the containers that the veggies came in to plant some seeds. I read somewhere that you need to stagger the planting times of your veggies to have a more continual harvest for a longer period of time. I hope my chives come up...I love chives.

I decided those white veggie containers would look better with some flowers in between them. So I went to Wal-Mart and checked out the flower prices. Marigolds are suppose to help keep the bugs away, so that is what I got to brighten up the area.

More about the Marigolds in a couple days....