Recycled Container Gardening with Used Milk Jugs in Panama - Wellness Wednesday by A Panama Mama

apanamamama (61) in homesteading • 7 years ago (edited)

It does not get much better than recycling, container gardening and growing our own food! Here in Panama, recycling has not really taken off, so there is a lot of trash that goes into the landfills that can be reused or repurposed. When we moved here, we realized that containers used for gardening are really expensive here - around $1 each for a small one! We knew we had to do something other than buy a hundred of these to get our plants going. We tried to think of something we already had that we could use and that is when we thought of milk jugs!

_{Here are some pineapple tops we are about to plant. These were previously cut off of some pineapple we bought! We cannot wait to have our own little crop (and this is only a few of the pineapples we have)!}

As a family of seven, we buy about 4-5 gallons of milk a week, so we have a lot of these milk jugs sitting around. This was a great way for us to keep all of these plastic bottles out of the landfill as well as have some containers to start our garden. Below you can see strawberries, flowers, and who knows what else growing.

It is pretty easy to transform a milk jug into a container for gardening. Either cut the handle and top smooth off, or cut around the handle to make for easy transporting of the plant. We have done the jugs both ways. The favorite way is probably with the handle still on (since we've already moved this garden about four times). After you cut the top off, poke some holes in the bottom for drainage and then fill with soil and the plant or seed. I have even used a marker to write what type of seeds I have planted in each container in the past!

We have started clearing some of the land we have to plant these in the ground now that we are settled in our permanent house. It is nice that the containers are also reusable. We can use them over and over again if we need to as they are pretty hard to destroy!

And sometimes we get a surprise from the sticks and seeds we have planted. Check out this beauty that blossomed the other day and I was totally shocked!

Just another way we are doing our part to keep our kids free from pesticides, keep these jugs out of the landfill and provide fresh foods for our family.

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7 years ago by apanamamama (61)

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kate-m (52) · 7 years ago

lol - yes I did this in Brazil too!

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1 vote

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apanamamama (61) · 7 years ago

Nice! :) It works great!

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1 vote

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kate-m (52) · 7 years ago

Except I didn't use the containers, they just got planted in the backyard, but it's so cool that you can just plant the discards and get a whole new pineapple!

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1 vote

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apanamamama (61) · 7 years ago

Apparently each top grows 2 pineapples and possibly babies. The babies are supposed to grow pineapples faster than the tops which take at least a year.

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1 vote

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kate-m (52) · 7 years ago

Yes, I moved away before mine were ready!

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1 vote

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marxrab (65) · 7 years ago

If you put take the lid of the milk container and poke holes in it with a nail you can make a watering can. I love recycling ideas. Really neat little garden.

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2 votes

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apanamamama (61) · 7 years ago

Thanks for stopping by! Good idea for the lid with holes. I might need to do that in the dry season. The kids would all love to have their own watering jug!

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steemitworldmap (75) · 7 years ago

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apanamamama (61) · 7 years ago

Thank you! :)

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minnowpond (62) · 7 years ago

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apanamamama (61) · 7 years ago

Thank you!

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cecicastor (60) · 7 years ago

Good way to recycle old plastic containers, not just milk jugs. They don't do much in the way of recycling here either.

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apanamamama (61) · 7 years ago

True - we have a few protein jugs, butter tubs and all kinds of other stuff out there. We just mostly use milk jugs since we get about 5 a week... We need to break the milk habit, but my husband just isn't ready! Maybe we should get some chickens and transfer over to eggs!! :) Thanks for the comment.

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cecicastor (60) · 7 years ago

I wouldn't. Kids need milk, even the big one! Get a goat. The milk is excellent cold, makes great butter and cheese.

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apanamamama (61) · 7 years ago

True - we have talked about getting a goat. Our friends have quite a few of them that they plan to milk. We have a lot of other projects, but it's on our list. ;)

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sharoonyasir (58) · 7 years ago

I came across a similar post on Facebook and loved it. I like how you went into the details and gave a nice tutorial on it.My mother is going to love this.

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apanamamama (61) · 7 years ago

So nice that your mom will like it. It works great for us since we have so many milk jugs and nothing to do with them.

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eonwarped (68) · 7 years ago

Aww we tried the pineapple tops once and it did not last long. Maybe it's too cold here... But that's a nice use of something that would otherwise go to landfill .

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apanamamama (61) · 7 years ago

Thanks for the comment! Too bad the pineapple didn't work out for you. We have friends that have about 100 of them growing right now. We need to get ours in the ground!

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coldsteem (65) · 7 years ago

Awesome idea.

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apanamamama (61) · 7 years ago

Thanks - it works for us. Thanks for stopping by! :)

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unmentionable (57) · 7 years ago

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apanamamama (61) · 7 years ago

Yea yippee! Thank you!

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apanamamama (61) · 7 years ago

@originalworks

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originalworks (69) · 7 years ago

The @OriginalWorks bot has determined this post by @apanamamama to be original material and upvoted(1.5%) it!

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